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“Ni Ni Roku,” English title “Four Days of Snow and Blood,” is Hideo Gosha’s tribute to the idealistic young officers who rebelled against the direction pursued by the Emperor and his advisors during the war in China. 2-2-6 refers to the date of the rebellion, February 26, 1936. With a cast of hundreds of Japan’s finest actors, Gosha recreates the conflict between the hyper-militaristic faction and, perhaps, the last sane group of soldiers in the Emperor’s Army. It was a climate of suspicion, when those who dared speak against the rise of the military state were brutally assassinated. Most of us know the history of the four tragic years from 1941 through 1945. This is a fascinating glimpse into the spectacular failure of restraint that led to bloody war in the Pacific. —karagarga