The sixth film in Frank Capra's Why We Fight saga introduced US soldiers and audiences to Japan's invasion of China and the events leading up to the Pearl Harbor attack.
AWARDS: Oscar for Best Documentary
Why We Fight: The Battle of China
The topic of this film is the Japanese motivations for invading China in the 1930s and how this is a precursor to the Pearl Harbor attack. Overall, it describes the reasons why the U.S. is going to war with Japan.
Implicitly, the film wants to depict the Japanese as brutal, uncivilized fighters who invaded a defenseless China and mercilessly attacked. The audience was both U.S. soldiers and civilians, and the film was shown in theatres for the public and also shown to the soldiers while in training.
The intention of this film was to motivate U.S. soldiers to fight the Japanese, and for the public to support the war effort.
All the episodes of the Why We Fight series:
Why We Fight : Prelude to War
Why We Fight: The Nazis Strike
Why We Fight: Divide and Conquer
Why We Fight: The Battle of Britain
Why We Fight: The Battle of Russia (Part One)
Why We Fight: The Battle Of Russia (Part Two)
Why We Fight: The Battle of China
Why We Fight: War Comes to America