History buffs should have a very good time with "Emperor," an unusually interesting look at Japanese/American relations in the aftermath of World War II.
Matthew Fox, of "Lost" fame, plays Brigadier General Bonner Fellers, the man whom General MacArthur (Tommy Lee Jones) has personally put in charge of determining whether or not the disgraced Emperor Hirohito should be tried as a war criminal (i.e., did he order or sign off on the attack on Pearl Harbor?). It falls to Fellers to perform the laborious task of piecing together the evidence both for and against the leader, interviewing those who were closest to him (those who haven't already died or committed suicide, that is) as a means of arriving at the verdict.
Directed by Peter Webber, "Emperor" could easily have become a dry and tedious exercise in historical re-creation were it not for the fact that the script by Vera Blasi and David Klass continually raises a host of thorny ethical issues along the way. Are the Allies being hypocritical for condemning Japan for its imperialistic ambitions when the Brits and Americans essentially led the way in such behavior? Will hanging the Emperor cause a revolt among the masses of loyal Japanese citizens whom the Americans are trying to win over to their side? Or does justice demand that Hirohito pay for his crimes at the end of a rope, or would such an outcome merely be giving into a need for revenge on the part of the American people, an act, by the way, that wouldn't exactly hurt MacArthur's political ambitions back home (we are told he dearly wants to become President)?
Throughout the course of his investigation, Fellers is forced to find a way to deal with a culture and a people that, while they may appear modern on the surface, have their roots planted firmly in the ancient values of loyalty and shame.
Even Feller's rather clichéd romance with a Japanese woman before the war nicely contributes to the themes the movie is exploring.
Matthew Fox, of "Lost" fame, plays Brigadier General Bonner Fellers, the man whom General MacArthur (Tommy Lee Jones) has personally put in charge of determining whether or not the disgraced Emperor Hirohito should be tried as a war criminal (i.e., did he order or sign off on the attack on Pearl Harbor?). It falls to Fellers to perform the laborious task of piecing together the evidence both for and against the leader, interviewing those who were closest to him (those who haven't already died or committed suicide, that is) as a means of arriving at the verdict.
Directed by Peter Webber, "Emperor" could easily have become a dry and tedious exercise in historical re-creation were it not for the fact that the script by Vera Blasi and David Klass continually raises a host of thorny ethical issues along the way. Are the Allies being hypocritical for condemning Japan for its imperialistic ambitions when the Brits and Americans essentially led the way in such behavior? Will hanging the Emperor cause a revolt among the masses of loyal Japanese citizens whom the Americans are trying to win over to their side? Or does justice demand that Hirohito pay for his crimes at the end of a rope, or would such an outcome merely be giving into a need for revenge on the part of the American people, an act, by the way, that wouldn't exactly hurt MacArthur's political ambitions back home (we are told he dearly wants to become President)?
Throughout the course of his investigation, Fellers is forced to find a way to deal with a culture and a people that, while they may appear modern on the surface, have their roots planted firmly in the ancient values of loyalty and shame.
Even Feller's rather clichéd romance with a Japanese woman before the war nicely contributes to the themes the movie is exploring.