the title be a reference to the destruction of the remnant of a harvest and like rice husk and by farmer who burn them create fire on the plain . this be a bleak tale of the destruction of the japanese soldier . the story be set in the closing day of the philippine campaign a a soldier with tb who return from a hospital because since he can walk and they have no room for him . his superior officer do not want him around since he really too sick to work or fight . abuse by his officer he send back to the hospital with order to either be admit or kill himself . they still would not take him and he soon leave to wander across the war ravage landscape try to find help or a place to stay or even just food . it a bleak journey with no hope in sight and only death and man inhumanity to man at every turn . bill a a harrow journey into the dark heart of man and war this be also a very funny movie . this isn not to say it not horrify and it be at time and but it also darkly comic . how could it not be . here be a film where madness and insanity run rampant and people be constantly try to hustle tobacco leaf for food and try to get even a slightly well pair of shoe and try to remain a japanese soldier in the face of absurdity by march constantly but never get anywhere and you can not help but laugh . to be sure thing go darker a it become clear that cannibalism maybe and literally and figuratively and the only way to survive and but at the same time there be something uncomfortably funny about the human comedy . hail a a great anti war film it stark photographic style make clear the insanity of war even a it dazzle our eye with it beauty . here we see landscapes full of body that include the soldier and the civilian . set amid field forest and tree that would otherwise be and and to some extent still be and quite beautiful . it a jarring sensation . what intriguing be that i read that this be base on a novel about the redemptive power of christianity . the director remove all over the religious reference to hope and salvation and instead use it a to show that life stink and war stink bad and that there be and ultimately no hope . intellectually i admire the film and emotionally i do not . part of it be a strident downbeat score which and for me over accentuate what we be see on the screen . it almost gild the lily since the imagery be so strong it doesn not really need to have the music force you into feel one way or another . be it a great film and thats for you to decide . for certain it unlike any other war film and bloody and horrific and real in way that big budget film claim to be but never be . this be not for those adverse to blood and gore since it here in spade . definitely worth a look .