This critically acclaimed biographical film about the life of Emperor Hirohito reveals a personal side to the figure. Although it can not be taken as truth, many important facets to the Emperor are explored. The Sun is historically accurate, but its portrayal of Hirohito’s perspective is highly controversial. However, the film is lauded universally as a landmark of modern cinema, including receiving the Nika Award for Best Screenplay.
Below are two clips from the film. Watch them closely while considering Hirohito's position in society and his relationship with his people according to essays written in the Section Pages of this website.
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First and foremost, how are these sections a reflection and contrast to reality? Sokurov spent a significant amount of time attempting to make the film a historically accurate, while still impressionistic, portrayal of Hirohito. [1] Are there any moments that seem contrived? Is there anything that rings particularly true?
Why did Sokurov choose to call his film "The Sun?" What does this imply about Hirohito's symbolic place in society? Consider how he was literally worshipped as a descendent of the sun goddess in Japanese Shintoism. Furthermore, consider what this idea means in relation to Hirohito's place in society. How is he a sun to the people of Japan? Think particularly about how planets rotate around the Sun, and how it emits light and warmth.
Compare Hirohito's place as a personal versus a distant figure. How are the characterizations of Hirohito in the videos different? The first video shows him a mentally unstable, paranoid man. Focusing on his body language, what does this portrayal of Hirohito reveal? Hirohito seems undeniably distant in the first video. Why would Sokurov choose to portray him this way? Notice how, in the second video, Hirohito responds to the Americans as they take pictures of him and, differently, how the Japanese guards react. Why would the Japanese government have wanted him to be a distant figure in the Empire? How did this change after the war ended?
Focus on the Americans' reaction to Hirohito. What does this show about the post-war American view of the Emperor? "Charlie," after Charlie Chaplin, became his nickname in the United States, and it reveals something important about the view outsiders had of the Emperor. [2] Why would they call him "Charlie?"
Here are some quotes about Hirohito and The Sun. Focus on how people react to specific moments and ideas Sokurov chose to include. Consider the comments each writer makes, and compare them to the writings in the Section Pages of this website.
"[Hirohito and MacArthur] barely seem to inhabit the same movie, which is likely Sokurov's point. The brusque, overbearing American soldier and the timid, whimsical Japanese emperor might as well be members of different species, although the haughty MacArthur acts like a king himself: 'What's it like to be a living god?' he asks Hirohito with a sarcasm born of his own absolute authority." [3]
"The movie is best understood not in banal docudrama terms but as an impressionistic portrait of a man who, stripped of power, is revealed as grotesquely human." [4]
"The god, you realize, has never had to open a door himself, a moment of pathetic comedy that forecasts a far more profound threshold-crossing: his renunciation of his divinity." [5]
“From the very outset Hirohito was a dynamic emperor, but paradoxically also one who projected the defensive image of a passive monarch. While the rest of the world disassociated him from any meaningful personal role in the decision-making process and insisted on seeing him as an impotent figurehead lacking notable intellectual endowments, he was actually smarter and shrewder than most people gave him credit for, and more energetic too.” [6]
Sources:
Photo: The Sun. Directed by Aleksandr Sokurov. Lorber Films, 2005. (image)
Videos 1 and 2: The Sun. Directed by Aleksandr Sokurov. Lorber Films, 2005. (video)
[1] Hoberman, J. "Aleksandr Sokurov's The Sun Meditates on Hirohito." The Village Voice (New York, NY), November 17, 2009. Accessed December 6, 2016. http://www.villagevoice.com/film/aleksandr-sokurovs-the-sun-meditates-on-hirohito-6392140.
[2] People Staff. "Once a God, and a Bitter Wartime Foe, Emperor Hirohito Is Now America’s Guest." People Magazine, October 6, 1975.
[3] Hoberman, J. "Aleksandr Sokurov's The Sun Meditates on Hirohito." The Village Voice (New York, NY), November 17, 2009. Accessed December 6, 2016. http://www.villagevoice.com/film/aleksandr-sokurovs-the-sun-meditates-on-hirohito-6392140.
[4] Dargis, Manohla. "When Dusk Finally Settled on the Emperor." The New York Times (New York, NY), November 17, 2009, Movie Review. Accessed December 6, 2016. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/18/ movies/18sun.html?_r=0.
[5] ibid
[6] Bix, Herbert P. “Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan.” New York: HarperCollins, 2000