The Sun (Solntse, 2005)

Starring Ogata Issei, Robert Dawson

Written by Yuri Arabov

Directed by Aleksandr Sokurov

My main problem with the aesthetics -- the movie is continental drift-slow -- are dwarfed by my problems with the central characterisation. When Hirohito tells MacArthur he didn't know about Pearl Harbor, it's a lie; but Ogata Issei plays the Emperor as wobbly-jawed and guileless, incapable of politicking. (To his credit, though, Ogata is the only performer who bothers to act.) The movie's lack of exploration of the extent of Hirohito's involvement in Japanese militarism is a choice; its ignorance of the nous he displayed in clinging to the throne while his ministers were convicted of war crimes is a failure. I dread the day George W. Bush is portrayed as just a simple guy who didn't understand what was being done in his name. Oh wait.

C PLUS