Claustrophobic premise of 4 U.S. Naval officers and 1 Japanese Lt. trapped in an underwater cave for 28 years since WWII moves quickly in spite of being for the most part an emotion-driven chamber piece with little action. Cooperation and friendship forged over almost 3 decades of shared hardship buckles under a blow to national pride and militaristic disappointment. One wonders how the Japanese Lt. would have reacted if he'd been told the specifics of Hiroshima and Nagasaki; probably not well, but we don't find out since it's conveniently never mentioned. But this is also a story of forgiveness, empathy, and grudging admiration-of-the-other that I think would be rare to find on today's NCIS's and The (now defunct) Unit. Included is a side story about a big-foreheaded Seaview newbie who just happens to be the bitter son of the cave Capt.; he can barely hide his further shock and shame when he discovers that living under the volcano has given his Dad poofy, blue Quentin Crisp hair. Seriously, it was the kind of subplot that if fleshed out and done well could have probably been a moving 1st season episode, but feels kind of shoehorned in here. The son was played by Robert Doyle, who had appeared twice before in VTTBOTS in unrelated roles, and would do lots more episodic tv. That long-running, name-making gig eluded him, unfortunately, and he passed away in 2000. On a final note, when the works come down toward the end of the episode and geysers of steam erupt in the cave, it put me in mind of a Disney attraction, and made me realize someone should've taken a shot at an Irwin Allen disaster movie/tv show themed thrill-ride park. I would've gone.

I liked the comraderie between the ship wrecked men and the moral lesson for the Japanese at the end of the film