History
The film: It’s the end of World War II; atomic mushroom clouds hover over Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Japan breaks down. American politicians demand to know whether the Japanese “god” Hirohito (Takataro Kataoka), instigated Pearl Harbor. Someone has to get to the bottom of it. The poetically rendered “Emperor” tells this story.We meet U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Bonner Fellers (Matthew Fox), a Japanese expert. His boss, supreme commander of the occupying forces, Gen. Douglas MacArthur (Tommy Lee Jones)—he of the general’s hat, aviator shades, and overly elongated corncob pipe—hands Fellers the job.
Two Problems for the Protagonist
Two not-so-minor monkey wrenches are thrown into the delicate mix. One is Fellers’s affair of the heart with a Japanese exchange student (Eriko Hatsune) he had attended college with. She‘d left him suddenly, without so much as a goodbye note. Ultimately, she affected his military decisions significantly: He’d steered bombing missions away from her home.The second is Gen. Richter (Colin Moy), a brown-nosing, dog-eat-dog rival who is intent on sabotaging Fellers’s work. Embodying America’s thirst for avenging Pearl Harbor, Richter is intent on seeing Hirohito hanged.
History Lesson
This is a fascinating period-costume account, a riveting portrayal, and a wonderful history lesson. The names of Pearl Harbor, Gen. MacArthur, and Hiroshima float about in most Americans’ subconscious, but many have never heard the story or witnessed the drama underlying its resolution.
The cinematography is wonderful as it captures the atmospheres of green bamboo, meticulous Japanese gardens, and bombed-out metropolises. It depicts the custom of sitting on the floor drinking-sake, and sons bowing all the way down to the ground in greeting as aspects of Japanese culture.
Very moving are the scenes of Fellers demanding, from fierce Japanese sentinels, a face-to-face with Prince Fumimaro Konoe (Masatoshi Nakamura). Konoe says, “You incinerated two of our cities, turning our children into shadows on the walls.” He gives no conclusive evidence as to the emperor’s guilt.
With time running out, Fellers sets up an interview with Teizaburo Sekiya (Isao Natsuyagi), a member of the Privy Council. Sekiya, like Konoe, does not give any evidence to exonerate the emperor. He instead recites a tanka poem that the emperor wrote, in all its Japanese solemn and operatic grandeur. He bows. It is reiterated that if one understands devotion, loyalty, and obedience, one understands the ancient warrior code of Japan.
We learn of how the emperor lived a hermetic life. How he stood up to the militarists. How he had only his word.
Look the Emperor in the Eye
Due to the conjectural nature of the emperor’s innocence, MacArthur wants to meet for tea, wants to look him in the eye and see what kind of a man he is. As MacArthur says, “I’ve never met an emperor before. Let alone a god.”
There are rules of engagement when meeting a god, such as do not touch the emperor, do not look him in the eye, always stand to his left, don’t take a photo opportunity, and so on.
The hugely self-confident MacArthur did not behave himself accordingly. The simple, heartbreakingly honest conversation between a god and a man, where Emperor Hirohito offers himself to be punished, rather than Japan, is stunning. No less stunning is MacArthur, stating that he has no intention of punishing Japan or Hirohito and that he only wants to discuss Japan’s reconstruction.
To see exactly how America and Japan transcended their grievances, have a look at this fine film.
