Welcome back to Movie Recap. Today I'm gonna show you a 2013 Australian/Singaporean psychological
suspense war film called, Canopy. Spoiler's ahead. Sit back, relax and enjoy the video.
The movie starts in a forest somewhere in Singapore, February 9,
1942. There are many different kinds of tall and short trees that can be seen.
But you cannot spot any wild animals but you can only hear the sound of some birds and insects.
This is because it was ruined by a dark smoke and loud sound coming from the firearms being shot and
causing chaos at the forestry. The sky is covered with clouds and the sound of birds and insects can
be heard again after the all the gunfire. It was a very quiet and seemingly peaceful place.
There is also a swamp with mangroves all over. Then suddenly, a man fell down in a parachute
but the parachute was caught on a large tree branch, and then he fainted from the shock of
his fall. He is an enemy pilot that was shut down to the enemy territory and is now being hunted.
Everywhere, there are smokes from fires burning from missiles that was shot by
many combat aircraft. It was a war time. The man woke up confused still hanging
from the branch of the tree. He looks around his surrounding to better understand his situation.
When he heard a Japanese soldier from around, he climbed to the branch and
removed the parachute he is wearing and jumped down from the tree. Only a few survival kits
and has no weapon whatsoever with him now. In the swamp, he hears gunshots so he came
running to hide in the woods arduously through the swamp as his feet slightly submerge on the mud.
Everything turned quiet suddenly but he still continues walks through to get to
the other side of the swamp. As he is walking, he suddenly heard a gunshot near him, he run
and lay low on the ground. When he looked up, he saw a man in military uniform walking and
talking to each other there. It was in Nihongo so he does not understand. He waited and faced
the ground silently to remain hidden. After a moment when everything became quiet again,
he observes his surrounding before he got up and continued walking.
When he found a good spot, he opened his kit and then removed the branch from his shoulder.
He proceeds to inspect the things that are in the kit to see the things he can use to survive.
He got a map, a water pouch, matches, knife, compass, and other things that he can use later.
Hearing a gunshot near his location, he hid his things back in the kit and moved again.
What a high pain tolerance he has. He is standing looking at the ground
and not moving, hiding under the canopy of large trees. When he continued walking, he heard the
sound of a plane from above. He walks and walks, passing through all the shrubs and trees. There
he saw a lake. After fainting and walking he is really thirsty, he drank the water there and then
washed his face. After that, he took his water pouch and filled it with water for his later use.
A loud gunfire and an airplane can be heard again. He continued walking in the forest struggling to
go down a hill and then climb again. Walking on mountains is not an easy feat. Not only are
there high slopes, the grasses are also almost as tall as him. As he was passing through,
he can see papers with Japanese flags and words written there everywhere.
He still continues to walk although the sun is about to set and the forest is turning dark.
Nigh time came but he is still walking around while looking at his compass. He is able to arrive
at a roadside when suddenly, a light appeared and men are marching fast. He runs hurriedly
to hide back in the forest, always looking back afraid of getting caught. He is so nervous that
he can't even run properly. Out of the blue, he bumped into another man who is also running away.
Seeing the man, Khan is ready to pounce on him but the man asked him to
stop. They distanced themselves remaining vigilant from each other. The man in blue
uniform said that he is a Chinese. Khan calmed down after hearing this when all of a sudden,
they heard slowly troops approaching so they jumped to the grass to hide. They remained
unmoving until all the Japanese troops who are slowly looking over the area have passed them.
They steadily stood up while watching the troops walk further away from them.
The Chinese man looked at the gun pocket of Khan to see if he has any weapon with him. Noticing
this, he showed and signalled that he doesn't have any gun or weapon. The Chinese man felt relieved
and showed a sharp wood on his hand. The Chinese man proceeds to walk through the forest again.
The Moon is shining bright but the forest remains dark.
The Chinese man tags along Khan. A camaraderie of two people with two different languages was made.
As they are walking, Khan stopped and signalled his hand for the Chinese man.
They are on the roadside again and saw another Japanese soldier on a night guard. Knowing that,
they decided to walk back into the forest. Khan looks at his compass for direction
when the Chinese man pointed at a direction and asked him to go there.
As they are walking, Khan brings out a bar of chocolate and took a piece and ate it before
he gave it to the Chinese man. Starving, the Chinese man took a large bite of the chocolate.
As he is taking a bite, he saw another soldier with the same blue military uniform lying on
the ground. Unfortunately, he had passed away from the slit in his throat. The Chinese man,
saddened with what he saw, mourned and cried and said a few words to his deceased comrade.
He positioned the dead body and looked at his bag for useful things that he can take,
seeing that there is a riffle on the side, he took it but there was no bullet so he just put it on
the ground again and walks away. Khan only watched him from the side and observed the Chinese man.
Khan followed him. It is very dark and he is trying to reach for something in the tree,
when a loud sound of aircraft was heard. He stopped what he was doing
and walked in the direction the Chinese man did. Fire suddenly ablaze and a paper with Japanese
flag and characters is picked by Khan. Hiding under the canopy, a loud gunfire was heard.
Blood is dripping down the mushroom on the ground. The Chinese man was shot on the stomach.
His hand is covered in blood and he slowly fell into the ground.
Seeing this, Khan is shocked and hurried to Tzu-Yi and carried him under the tree to hide.
Khan checked Tzu-Yi's wound and poured water to clean it. It was very painful for Tzu-Yi that's
why he struggled to keep his voice down from the pain while Khan pushes him to the ground
to make sure that he won't move there. Khan took out the kit and brought out a needle. He showed
it to Tzu-Yi to show that he is going to stich his wound. Tzu-Yi is hesitant at first but he
still allowed it. When Khan is stitching the wound without any anaesthetic, Tzu-Yi cried out in pain.
Khan covered his mouth with a cloth for Tzu-Yi to bite it while crying because it was very painful.
It was a long and painful procedure for Tzu-Yi, in the end, he fainted because of too much pain. When
Khan saw this, he thought that he has passed away and checked if he is still breathing.
Knowing that he is, he continued stitching his wound to prevent it from bleeding.
Morning came and they found a vacant house there. Tzu-Yi was looking outside the house weakly.
A day passed very quickly, night time came again and they slept under a tree. Khan is having a
nightmare where he walks in the forest alone and seemingly confused about what's happening when he
saw a feet hanging from a tree and he runs away. Suddenly he woke up while Tzu-Yi is covering his
mouth, Japanese troops are around them. When the troops went away, only then did Tzu-Yi released
his hands and signalled Khan that it was okay. They brushed the ants crawling in their skin
and sat there again to rest. Khan looks at his compass again for direction and decided to walk.
When they are walking, Tzu-Yi stopped all of a sudden.
His wound is bleeding again. They found a place to stay and rest. Tzu-Yi is in so much pain. Khan
gave him a water and supported him to stand. Khan walked again and Tzu-Yi followed slowly.
A loud sound of fire guns and voices can be heard, Khan panicked
and looked for a place to hide. Screaming and movements can be heard on the surroundings.
Seeing that Tzu-Yi cannot move fast, Khan hugged and grabbed him to move away from the spot. They
hid there on the large root of a tree, observing the sounds from the background vigilantly.
It is dawn now and light is slowly penetrating the forestry. Tzu-Yi is standing eerily to
get some sunlight. Khan refilled his water pouch again in a lake and washed his face.
After that, he came back to Tzu-Yi who is sitting very weakly and gave him some water.
Tzu-Yi brings out a packet to give to Khan. He also brought out a picture and showed it to Khan.
It was a picture of a married couple. Tzu-Yi sings a song weakly as if he was reminiscing
of beautiful moments before his death. While looking at the photo, Khan had a
flashback. He remembered a field, a house and a lady standing outside looking at the scenery as
if waiting for someone. It was a peaceful sight. Khan woke up, the sun is shining brightly around
the woods. He slowly looks at Tzu-Yi closely to check-up on him. Tzu-Yi weakly opens his eyes
slightly. It was a good thing that he is still alive. Tzu-Yi slowly opened his eyes adjusting
his eyesight to the light. He is growing weaker and weaker by the day. Tzu-Yi has tears in his
eye while he looks at the surrounding and then to Khan. He smiled at Khan and talked. Khan is
not able to understand him but still listens carefully. They told each other their names.
Suddenly, Japanese troops arrived and beaten and separated them from each other.
They felt terror at that moment. Tzu-Yi was dragged away very easily with his weak body.
The soldier that got Tzu-Yi commanded the other soldiers to drag Khan away. On the other hand,
while struggling from being dragged away, Khan saw that the Japanese soldier pointed his gun
to Tzu-Yi's head. When he is unable to see them anymore, he heard a shot and he cried. He knew
that Tzu-Yi was sent to the afterlife by then. Khan was thrown to the side road and commanded to
ride the truck by the soldiers where he sat there while holding his hands up to show submission.
The truck starts moving and he saw Japanese soldiers going around.
While riding the truck, he remembers his time when he was still riding his own back in his hometown.
The movie ends with a man standing still in the middle of a prairie.
This movie tells us about the struggle of a soldier at the enemy territory bearing the
loneliness and hardships of survival and that although we cannot understand people because of
language barrier, we still can be a comrade to each other to achieve a single goal.