LOCATION: A beach town near Tokyo

SYNOPSIS:
The name of the leading character is made unknown throughout, but it just suffices to refer the character to 'he'.
In the midsummer of 1945, a drum is floating on the sea under the scorching sun. A torpedo is set underneath an opened umbrella standing on the drum. Focused on it are 'his' glittering eyes. 'He' is 21 years and 6 months old and is a military engineer and a first-classification candidate for the officer.
'He' reflects upon his recent days. The officer candidates are starved. 'He' steals biscuits, for which 'he' is cried down. "You are a pig! A pig needs no clothes!" 'He is stripped off to nakedness. Heavily short-sighted, 'he' visualizes in the head a pig with a pair of thick-lensed ghsses.
The atomic bomb is dropped in Hiroshima. The Soviet Union participates in the war. The officer candidates are now the special attack unit members. The head instructor tells them, "From today you are gods to save our nation." But, 'he' wished to be a human being before jumping up to a god from a pig.
A leave of one day is granted. As 'he' devouringly misses books, 'he' goes to a secondhand book store, where 'he' sees an old man who lost arms at an air raid and an old lady looking like a merciful goddess. 'He' is driven to tears. As 'he' couldn't help shedding tears, 'he' goes to a brothel, where 'he' finds a naive girl who is studying mathematics. But, the partner for 'his' first experience is a dry middle-aged woman.
Feeling empty, 'he' runs out into the rain. Then, 'he' comes across the girl who he met at the brothel. She is on her way to buy a mathematics reference book with the money 'he' gave her. 'He' runs away weeping. She, also crying, chases 'him'. They make love in an air-raid shelter. 'He' cries out, "I'll have no regrets if I'll lose my life."
From the next day 'he' is a god. Holding an anti-tank mine in 'his' arms, 'he' squats in an octopus pot in the dune.
That night, there is an air-raid upon the town. The girl dies, and other persons are missing. Because of a strategic change, 'he' has no choice but floating with a torpedo on a drum in the ocean. Finally after several days, 'he' spots an airplane flying over 'him'. A wave of 'his' hand is responded with a machine-gun blast, but 'his' damage is only broken lenses of 'his' glasses.
The war comes to an end, but 'he' is not even aware of it. 'He' does not know how many days have passed since then. Extremely exhausted, 'he' looks up to find a large aircraft carrier and shoots up a torpedo with a prayer, but it is in vain. The torpedo sinks into the water with bubbling sound. What looked an aircraft carrier to 'his' heavily short-sighted eyes and disordered mind is actually a garbage boat to dump wastes into the Tokyo Bay. The captain of the boat tells 'him' that the war ended, and treats 'him' to a drink of cheap spirits. In the midsummer of 1968, a drum is floating off a crowded beach with bathers. In that drum, a head skelton wearing glasses without lenses is still crying out.

NOTES:
Director OKAMOTO KIHACHI made "The Emperor and a General" (or "The Longest Day of Japan" as translated literally from the Japanese original title) a year before "A Human Bullet". While "The Emperor and a General" focuses on Japan's defeat in the war seen through the eyes of the upper commanding class of politicians, this "A Human Bullet" depicts the defeat from the side of soldiers based on the experience of the director OKAMOTO himself, adding his imagination. A folly of a candidate for officer being rated pig and made an instant god. A romantic relationship with the girl at a brothel 'he' comes to know on one day leave. A bitter irony of 'him' being thrown in the ocean with a drum. All of these ingenious ideas and sharp-edged sarcasm make this picture one of a kind and unique anti-war caricature.
TERADA MINORI portraying the leading character was discovered among theatrical company newcomers and casted for the role because of his physical shape being able to conceal himself in a drum and his nihilistic face. OTANI NAOKO playing the part of the girl was chosen among 300 girls who took audition. She, then a high school student, caught the eyes of the director as she had the qualifications of 'a girl of virginal beauty' which the director had been looking for. Since this picture, she has grown to be one of the most sought-after actresses for both films and TV.