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| “ | Look at me. | „ |
| ~ Watanabe tormenting Louie Zamperini - his infamous line. |
| “ | Good evening, old prisoners. Welcome, new hands. This is Omori Detention Camp. I am Corporal Watanabe. You are enemies of Japan. You will be treated accordingly. | „ |
| ~ Watanabe to the prisoners. |
| “ | You are like me. We are both strong. I saw it in your eyes the first day. I thought, this man will be my friend, but... Enemy of Japan. | „ |
| ~ Watanabe to Zamperini as he reveals his twisted admiration for him. |
Sergeant Mutsushiro Watanabe (in Japanese: 軍曹 渡邊睦裕/Gunsō Watanabe Mutsuhiro), known by his nickname, "The Bird", is the main antagonist of Angelina Jolie's film Unbroken and the overarching antagonist of its 2018 sequel, Unbroken: Path to Redemption, where he appears in flashback sequences.
In Unbroken, he was portrayed by Miyavi, who also played Finn in Arcane. In Unbroken: Path to Redemption, he was portrayed by David Sakurai, who also played Krall in Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald.
Biography[]
Overview[]
Watanabe is cruel and vicious Imperial Japanese Army sergeant in World War II at the POW camps in Omori and he constantly harassed Louie Zamperini and was referred by the prisoners in the camp as "The Bird" due to his keen ear for key information or insults and threats towards him or the Japanese army that the prisoners share with each other in the barracks. In real life, Watanabe was much worse than his film counterpart. He grew up in a wealthy family and thought this would make him an officer. It did not, which sparked much of his anger that he took out on his prisoners. In 1945, General Douglas MacArthur included Watanabe as number 23 on his list of the 40 most wanted war criminals in Japan. Some of Watanabe's actions in real life include ordering one of his subordinates to be punched in the face every night for three weeks, and practicing judo on one of his subordinates who had just had his appendix removed. Watanabe was fascinated by nihilistic philosophy, probably the source of his extreme cruelty, and learned French to better study nihilist philosophers.
Even among the Japanese, Watanabe was feared and hated, considered to be a sadistic and dangerous psychopath. Yuichi Hatto, a sergeant at the Omori Camp, stated at all the non-commissioned officers in the Japanese military hated him because he was "so violent". In addition to tormenting his prisoners physically with beatings, he took delight in breaking their minds by destroying their family photos and occasionally waking up prisoners at night to give them candy. This behavior kept the prisoners on edge, never knowing what he would do next.
Unbroken[]
Olympic runner and US Army Officer Louie Zamperini and his comrade Phil are captured by Japanese soldiers after being stranded at sea for months after their bomber crashed and are tortured before being separated into different camps. Camp Omori in Tokyo, where Zamperini is sent, is headed by a Japanese corporal, Mutsushiro Watanabe. Zamperini and the new prisoners are led to an assembly line with other prisoners and are greeted by The Bird who introduces himself and reminds them of the harsh treatment awaiting them die to being "enemies of Japan", he immediately notices Zamperini looking at him and sadistically beats him for it, breaking his nose as a result. Ever since then, the Bird would treat him very cruelly, in part because of Zamperini's status as a former Olympian.
The Bird is especially tough on Louie out of jealousy, beating and humiliating him often. Louie is given the opportunity to broadcast a message home saying that he is alive. When he refuses to broadcast a second message that would be anti-American he is sent back to camp where the Bird has all the other prisoners punch him for not broadcasting the message. Having developed a twisted admiration for Zamperini's strength and spirit, the Bird makes it his sole mission to break him.
After 2 years, the Bird is promoted to Sergeant and leaves the camp. The camp is eventually damaged when Tokyo was bombed, so Louie and the others are moved to Naoetsu prison camp. Here, the Bird is once again, in command, but has now been promoted to Sergeant and he immediately beats Zamperini on his first day at the camp. He also supervises the prisoners at work loading coal barges. Zamperini pauses during work out of exhaustion and is punished by The Bird making him lift a large wooden beam and hold it over his head. He orders a guard to shoot him if he drops it, but Zamperini defiantly holds it up, much to be the Bird's surprise. Realizing that he has failed to break him, this enrages him as Zamperini stares him straight in the eye, provoking him to beat him severely.
At the end of the war, Zamperini and the other POWs are liberated when the Americans occupy Japan just as a bomber flies overhead and confirms that the war is over. Zamperini tries to find the Bird in his quarters but sees he has already fled. He sits down, staring at a picture of the Bird as a child alongside his father.
Unbroken: Path to Redemption[]
After returning home from the war, Zamperini suffers from PTSD due to the abuse he received at the hands of the Bird during his time as a POW and is often haunted by memories and nightmares of him. Zamperini's PTSD from the hands of Watanabe is so horrific that he turns to alcoholism, which gradually destroys his family. In 1949, his wife, Cynthia, attends Billy Graham's Los Angeles crusade, and convinces Louis to embrace Christianity. While attending a church, he is confronted by a vision of the Bird but quickly overcomes it.
A new man, Zamperini gives up alcohol and forgives his former captors. Zamperini finds that, after forgiving Watanabe for all the pain he caused him, his nightmares stop. To truly find closure, he visits many of them in person to tell them that he forgives them. Zamperini even managed to convert some of his former captors to Christianity. When he travels to Japan to hold the torch in the Olympics, he attempts to locate The Bird, now an insurance salesman, but he refuses to meet with Zamperini.
Fate[]
Mutsuhiro "Bird" Watanabe went into hiding for several years and successfully evaded prosecution in spite of being one of the most notorious war criminals in all of Japan.
In 1950, Zamperini returned to Japan and went to Sugamo Prison. While there, he asked several prisoners who were incarcerated there about Watanabe's whereabouts and they told him that he probably committed Harakiri, or ritual suicide by disembowelment. Zamperini did not know that The Bird was alive until late 1996. In a 1995 print interview, Watanabe offered a hollow apology for his actions, claiming that he beat prisoners because was following orders. However, he still attempted to justify his abuse by denying that he used clubs to beat prisoners and claimed that he only treated his prisoners as enemies of Japan. Watanabe placed most of the blame for his actions on the war and the national attitude at the time. Watanabe would contradict these claims in a 1998 television interview, where he declared that he abused prisoners out of his own volition rather than direct orders.
Despite agreeing to meet with Zamperini in the interview, later that year, Watanabe refused to see him. However, Zamperini sent him a letter informing him that he forgave him after converting to Christianity and urged Watanabe to do the same. Zamperini never got a response, and Watanabe died in 2003 at the age of 85.
Personality[]
Mutsushiro Watanabe is a very vicious and cruel man who harassed and emotionally and physically assaulted Louie Zamperini countless times. He derives sadistic pleasure in causing pain and suffering to Zamperini and is implied to be harsh on him due to his jealousy of the fact that the POW is an Olympic athlete. He also apparently enjoys playing cruel games with Zamperini by playfully ordering him to look him in the eye in order to beat him (as in Japanese culture, looking at someone in the eye is rude).
Despite this, he developed a twisted admiration for Zamperini, commenting that both the latter and himself are strong and as a result, he decided to do whatever it takes to break Zamperini's spirit to no avail. Upon realizing that he failed to break him, The Bird was filled with rage and savagely beats him to an inch of his life.
Despite his ruthless nature, The Bird is just a coward. This is proven when he swiftly abandoned his troops to save himself after the American troops occupied Japan, as well as refusing to meet up with Zamperini many years later.
Trivia[]
- In Unbroken, Watanabe speaks fluent English but in real life, he could barely speak English but was fluent in French.
- Miyavi was hesitant to accept the role because of its dark nature and it being upsetting to Japanese audiences. However, after meeting with Jolie and learning that the main theme of this story is forgiveness, he accepted the part.
- During the period of Unbroken's release in 2014, Miyavi's portrayal of Watanabe was universally hated due to his sheer cruelty and as a result, Miyavi was often bullied online. Many comment that his performance was so convincing that people hated the actor instead of the character.
- Miyavi would later portray Gunpei Ikari, a Japanese military pilot in Kong: Skull Island, and later, Udo, in Maleficent: Mistress of Evil.