Watch WINGS OF DEFEAT Tonight on Independent Lens

What were the Japanese Kamikazes thinking just before crashing into their targets? When Risa Morimoto discovered that her beloved uncle trained as a Kamikaze pilot in his youth, she wondered the same thing. Through rare interviews with surviving Kamikaze pilots, Morimoto retraces their journeys from teenagers to doomed pilots and reveals a complex history of brutal training and ambivalent sacrifice.

“WINGS OF DEFEAT… examines the frantic, desperate nationalism that engulfed Japan toward the end of the war,” NPR’s Morning Edition.

Check out the trailer below:

WINGS OF DEFEAT airs tonight at 10:00 PM on Independent Lens on PBS (check local listings)