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==Introduction==
Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970) is a major Hollywood motion picture depicting the Japanese attack on the US naval base at Peral Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. The Japanese air force attacked the US Fleet at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, the most important American naval base in the Pacific. The Japanese destroyed a significant number of American vessels and in the process some 2000 US service personnel were killed. The attack on Pearl Harbor changed the history of the world. It provoked America into declaring war on Japan and soon the US was also at war with the other Axis powers, Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany. Tora! Tora! Tora! is a 1970 Japanese-American epic that dramatizes the attack on Pearl Harbor and sought to be as historically accurate as possible. The film was directed by the American director Richard Fleischer, and the Japanese duo of Toshio Masuda and Kanji Fukasaku. Unlike other war movies of the time and indeed since the motion picture did not seek an all-star cast. Rather it selected well-established and respected actors such as Jason Robards and Joseph Cotton, so not to distract from the historical accuracy of the film and to make it more realistic. The screenplay was based on the research and books of the military historian Ladislas Farago. The production team took great pains to be as accurate as it could. Some of the technical advisors, had been involved in various stages of Pearl Harbor. The film was also committed to provide both an American and Japanese perspective and wanted to avoid a glorification of US military power. The film was not well- received and it was panned by the critics who claimed that it was overlong and tedious. It was a massive hit in Japan, where the audiences liked the sympathetic portrayal of the Japanese. The film is named after the Japanese code name for the assault on Pearl Harbor. Tora means ‘surprise’ or ‘lightening strike’ in the Japanese language. The movie remains very popular to this, while not considered a classic. Indeed, it has shaped many American and Japanese perceptions of Pearl Harbor. However, the historical accuracy of the movie has been questioned. This article will discuss the accuracy of Tora Tora Tora and if it presents a reliable account of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
[[File: ToraToraTora1970.png|200px|thumb|left|Poater of the movie]]
==The Background==
The film largely portrays the background to the attack on Pearl Harbor very accurately. Tensions had been rising between American and Japan for many years. During WWI, the Japanese and the Americans had been allies. However, when Japan invaded Manchuria in China in 1931 the American government and public were outraged<ref> Clarke, Thurston. Pearl Harbor Ghosts: The Legacy of December 7, 1941. New York: Ballantine Publishing Group, 2001.p. 78</ref>. The relationship between Tokyo and the US deteriorated over the years, especially after the Japanese signed a treaty with Italy and Nazi Germany. The movie clearly shows how poor the relationship between the Americans and Japanese had become by 1941. This was after the Japanese army had occupied most of Indochina then a French colony with the agreement of the Vichy French governor. In response to this, the Americans had placed sanctions on Japan especially regarding oil. This was intended to slow the Japanese war machine in China. This led to the Japanese militarists drawing up a plan to attack the American naval base in Hawaii. The atmosphere of mistrust between the two nations is brilliantly portrayed. On December 6, 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt did appeal to the Japanese government for a peaceful resolution of the escalating crisis in the Pacific and indeed he received no response. FDR was opposed to the Axis powers but he did not want to enter the war and wanted to maintain US neutrality. The Americans were very concerned about the possibility of a Japanese attack. This is all shown in the motion picture. The movie also makes clear that the US believed that its Pacific fleet was safe in Pearl Harbor as they assumed that any attack would also use Japanese battleships. The movie correctly how the US naval command failed to anticipate a Japanese aerial assault on Pearl Harbor. The movie also shows how the Americans became aware of a Japanese plot to attack Pearl Harbor after they had decoded some coded messages. The movie shows the intelligence services messaging the US Navy in Pearl Harbor but that they failed to reach those in command. This actually happened and if the US intelligence services message had been relayed to Pearl Harbor in time then they could have defended themselves and denied the Japanese the element of surprise which was so important in their attack <ref>Clausen, Henry C., and Bruce Lee. Pearl Harbor: Final Judgment. New York: Crown Publishers, Inc., 1992, p. 112</ref>.
