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The Sun

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Sokurov has superceeded even his recent achievements with this simply awesome piece. Ogata's staggering performance as Emporer Hirohito is the film's pivot. Not a moment of exaggeration, mannerism or overstated camerawork. The interplay of a gloved hand, of light catching the lower rim of one eye, the regimented deep space of the palace, the ambient short-wave sound track in Hirohito's study as he jots off a haku - the list is long. An apocolyptic dream shakes him from a noonday nap. It's one of cinema's most impressive dream sequences, in keeping with the Emporer's biological passions. Later, he scans a print of Durer's,'Four Riders' which, when the camera pounces on him from behind, mysteriously enlargens so that Hirohito's head swims in its detail. As a sustained study of profound pathos, the film has no equal. The Emporer's Chaplinesque antics before the GI's cameras in his front garden are unspeakably humiliating. The annihilation of the Empire, and with it the sombre lifestyle, liberates him from the absurdly suffocating protocols that attended his deification. The film ends with him in hand with his wife, imprisioned in his palace, but 'free' to enjoy the pleasures of his children. As a raid on the inarticulate, a devastation, a change of beliefs, the abiding state of the Emporer's mind is evinced in his inability to speak. He goes to speak, the words won't come; unmitigated shock has jettisoned his tongue from his mind.

"The Sun" is the third film in Russian director Aleksandr Sokurov's tetralogy about powerful political figures as they suffer personally from their poor decisions. The first two films were about Adolf Hitler and Vladimir Lenin. "The Sun" is about Hirohito, Emperor of Japan, just after the Japanese surrender in 1945. The Emperor (Issey Ogata) is under house arrest in a building on the grounds of the Imperial Palace while the Allies decide what to do with him. He is attended by a chamberlain (Shiro Sano) and an elderly manservant, who try to preserve his normal routine. He is briefed by his ministers on the state of the war effort, he studies marine biology, takes a nap, writes his son, sees a guest, and meets General Douglas MacArthur (Robert Dawson), Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers in Japan, for the first time.

The way Sokurov presents this series of events gives the impression that it all happened in one day. Looking closely, that is not explicit but implicit, though the events actually took place over the course of months. There is much debate over the degree to which the Emperor was in control of the Japanese military and therefore responsible, or not, for "war crimes". "The Sun" takes the view that was adopted by the United States and its Allies, and therefore by the Japanese, after the war: Hirohito was isolated, easily manipulated by those more ambitious than himself, and a bit clueless. He was just a figurehead, and the Allies wanted him to continue to be so as Japan recovered from the devastation of war. Presented this way, Hirohito seems a lot like King Louis XVI of France or Tsar Nicholas II of Russia.

Sokurov paints Hirohito as a well-meaning fool who has an embarrassing nervous tick, is preoccupied with his interest in marine biology, and summons a scientist whose research institute has been destroyed to discuss the Northern Lights, all while Japan is in crisis and the Emperor must contemplate the implications of renouncing his divine origins. But Sokurov respects the Emperor, because he placed the future of his nation above his own pride. He surrendered. He did what was asked of him by his conquerors to smooth the transition to an occupied and new Japan. I suppose this would be true whether or not he was responsible for war crimes.

The Emperor does everything with slow deliberation, which sets the film's pace. It's slow. Issey Ogata looks remarkably like Hirohito, though I don't know if the nervous tick is accurate. The content of conversations between Hirohito and MacArthur is uncertain and may have been fictionalized. Although Ogata's performance is impressive, "The Sun" would not have much meaning were these not true events. So veracity is an essential component of the film's worth, and I don't think Sokurov was concerned with history so much as his impression of the Emperor's character at a time of crisis. The subdued, dreamy cinematography, also by Sokurov, is admirable, as is Ogata's portrayal, but I wouldn't take "The Sun" to be history. In English and Japanese.

The DVD (Kino/Lorber 2010): Bonus features are "Production Notes by Aleksandr Sokurov" (text) taken from an interview with the director, a Russian theatrical trailer (1 min), and a Stills Gallery of 19 production stills. English subtitles are available for the film.

Did he or didn't he? And if so, how much? These are the eternal questions asked when discussing Emperor Hirohito and his role in WWII. Was he an active participant in the war, encouraging his armies to conquer and with a powerful seat on the war council, or was he nothing more than an impotent figurehead, kept isolated and ignorant of world events.

Herbert P. Bix's Pulitzer Prize winning Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan falls firmly in the "he did" category. The book paints a picture of a capable and dangerous man who was the driving force behind Japan's failed wars of conquest, but who then allowed himself to be re-sold as an incompetent fool by General MacArthur in order to avoid trial for war crimes and be further used as a tool for MacArthur's hold on Japan.

This film, "The Sun" (original title "Solntse"), answers the question in the opposite. Here. Hirohito is as history imagines him. The Emperor is so isolated and protected from daily affairs, that he is barely able to hold a regular conversation, and has no awareness of the impact of his decisions. He is a strange and unique creature, brought up told that he is a living God, but wondering on his own if this is possible, due to his very human body. He does what he is told, follows formalities and ceremony without question, and has little connection with the world outside his palace. This is the doddering fellow who was filmed wandering around Disneyland with Mickey Mouse long after the war was over, assuring the American people that Japan was completely neutered.

Actor Ogata Issei (Tony Takitani) creates a complete portrait of Emperor Hirohito. He gives a nuanced and remarkable performance, and brings "The Sun" to a higher level. Robert Dawson's General Douglas MacArthur is not so perfect an illusion, but is still excellent as the tough military man trying to understand and work with a bizarre world leader who is as interested in Marine Biology as the destruction and surrender of his country.

It is fitting that the director of "The Sun" is Russian, Aleksandr Sokurov. Russia had a 3rd-party perspective on the US/Japanese conflict, remaining mostly on the fringes. I highly doubt a film like this could be made by either an American or a Japanese director. They would be too inclined to put their countries point of view into the film. With Sokurov, the viewer is allowed to remain neutral and marvel at world events. "The Sun" is the third part of Sokurov's WWII trilogy, following Moloch and "Taurus."

"The Sun" is in Japanese, with English subtitles.

***1/2

Alexander Sokurov's austere, moody and claustrophobic chamber piece, "The Sun," takes place in Tokyo in 1945, just as the victorious American forces are overtaking the city. The focus of the film is on Emperor Hirohito (believed by his subjects to be a direct descendent of the Sun goddess Amaterasu ) who, holed up in a bunker in the royal palace, agonizes over how such an ignominious fate could have befallen his nation and his people - and the part he himself may have played in bringing that outcome about.

Hirohito spends much of the first half of the film engaging in deep introspection and personal recrimination, blaming himself for having placed too much faith in the power of the Empire and for relying too heavily on the enthusiasm of the soldiers rather than properly equipping the army. Meanwhile, he pores over old family photo albums as well as pictures of glamorous Hollywood stars of the time, suggesting that he clearly doesn't despise all things American, even if that nation has become the cause of his downfall.

In the second half of the movie, Hirohito finds himself under house arrest, where his American captors ply him with wine and chocolate bars as they negotiate the terms of his surrender. Then he's brought before General MacArthur himself, who treats the defeated emperor with outward politeness but inward condescension and dismissiveness. The result is a subtle little game of cat-and-mouse in which two of the great figures of their time vie for position and power - both personal and diplomatic.

A largely fictionalized, impressionistic account of historical events, "The Sun" is definitely an acquired taste. Its subdued tone, spare settings and desultory pacing may be off-putting to some in the audience, and the acting by the American performers is amateurish in the extreme. But there's a haunting quality to the film as well, as a man once convinced of his own infallibility, divinity and immortality is forced to face the fact that, like the rest of humanity, he has feet of clay - and finds what a truly liberating and unburdening thing that can be in the long run.

realizing that my impressions are all relative to my own temperment, let me just say what i have to say without regard for your approval.

i was bored. a sense of civic duty kepy me from swapping dvds to "The best of mr. monk" or some other dvds i am anxious to enjoy. and enjoying is not any part of my experience with this docu/drama.

i was bothered with the slow pace. ironically the subtitles were unnecessarily fast.

hirohito's mannerisms suggested he was emotionally challenged- hich while true , the point was over emphasized.

"i got it, i got it" i thought when another superflous scene seemed more to remind us again and again of his stifled stiff slow formalized mannerisms.

and now i will do what the producers should have done-- having made my points,: bow out and pull the plug. sayonara.

I was very disppointed in this film, as it's inaccuracy is staggering. The film starts out before Japan's surrender, while the emperor is living in a bomb shelter on the palace grounds; the movie shows a palace above this, but virtually all the palace buildings were destroyed during allied bombings, and weren't replaced until the '60s. Then there is a scene of a cabinet meeting in which Hirohito tells the ministers that they will continue the war. Here's were the film slips into fiction - it depicts the emperor going up to his bedroom, where he awaits the arrival of the occupying Americans. No depiction or mention of the surrender, in which Hirohito played a vital role by recording and then broadcasting his surrender speech to the nation (and in which a group of hardliners tried to prevent it's broadcast). It does seem the screen writer confused this speech with his deification renunciation. In the film, it shows the emperor reaching this decision on his own, and then mentions that he recorded the speech for broadcast - in reality, the renunciation of his deity was something mandated by the US occupying forces, and he read out loud in a speech to the Diet (Japanese parliament). The film does not portray the efforts by the Japanese government or statesmen to shield the emperor from responsibility for the war, or to preserve his place in the Japanese state. The film depicts both Hirohito and McArthur as caricatures - I've read Hirohito had an unusual, stiff walk, but I don't recall ever reading that he continuously puckered his mouth like a fish out of water, as the film shows. Given the gross historical inaacuracy of this film, I can't see giving it more than one star.

Be forewarned that this is not a documentrary. To the contrary, it is a slow, static and imponderable foreign-language film containing minimal dialogue, wooden acting and a paucity of action. Boils down to a barely watchable one-man show most notable for its lenghty pauses, odd facial mannerisms and endless ritual bowings. To add to the misery, the subtitles disappear whenever English is spoken, which hampers the accessibity of hearing impaired viewers. This is is doubly unfortunate, since the "Emperor's" spoken English is broken and barely comprehensible--even to people that can hear perfectly.

One of the strangest movies I've seen in a very long time, it is about the final days of World War II and the life of the Japanese emperor Hirohito. I am not sure if he really spoke in a strange, affected way, or if he always made an O with his mouth and jutted his lips out, but that's what you see in the movie. Made by Russian director Alexander Sokurov, the film has a small cast and limited locations, making it feel like a stage play.