Released in the United States with the helpfully explanatory title The Four Days of Snow and Blood, 226 is a superb historical drama from the reliable and sadly unheralded Japanese director Hideo Gosha (Onimasa, Bandits vs. Suicide Squadron). Gosha's films are always precise, beautiful to look at, and riveting; 226 is no exception. Taking its name from an attempted military coup that began on February 26 1936, the film details the machinations and bloody fallout from the attempt - and the blinkered attitude of its participants, who thought they were working on behalf of the Emperor by overthrowing the corrupt civilian government then running the country. A terrific history lesson on par with Kihachi Okamoto's 1967 classic Nihon no ichiban nagai hi (Japan's Longest Day).
Review of Four Days of Snow and Blood
