Emperor [Blu-ray]

The only History I ever knew about Japan's Surrender was that it was "Unconditional". Seems it wasn't as I thought. This is one of those stories people should see. The acting is great and the story line is History

Excelente recreación de una trágica y compleja realidad histórica .

This movie tells the story of the US Army JAG teams trying to put together the Pacific theater war crimes indictments in the first month after the Japanese surrender. It centers on the Tokyo HQ team investigating the question as whether the Emperor of Japan should be tried for allowing the Imperial General Staff a free hand in the attack at Pearl Harbor and ensuing events during the war. Movie plot centers on two major American characters, US General Fellows leading the inquest team concerning the Emperor; and General Douglas MacArthur micro-managing his work as well as establishing the occupation forces in Japan in the fall of 1945. Success of the Occupation will balance on the situation regarding the Emperor. This is all interesting, and as we have learned since 1945, this was a difficult situation. Script is based on true events and actual people. Interesting...but hardly exciting. We follow flashbacks in the life of General Fellows as he recalls falling in love with a Japanese woman he met in university and again in subsequent pre-war trips to Japan, and as he attempts to find her again in the bombed-out chaos of 1945 Japan. While the movie is interesting and watchable, the viuewer will have to endure some of the most "unique mis)castings of any movie in a long time! Matthew Fox ( LOST) as a US Army general...hmmm. OK, possible...he's in his early 30s now and there were 23 and 24 year old generals in rare cases. Works as 50% of the love interest...and I sort of suspect he owns a share of the film.. Tommy Lee Jones as General of the Army Douglas MacArthur...now that's a bit of a strech to me.. Imperious, aloof, tall, calculating, Virginia "gentlemanly, were all terms used (among others) to describe MacArthur. Best played on the screen by Gregory Peck in 1977's "MacArthur", becoming a virtual clone to the real guy. Sir Laurence Oliver did Doug once, not too well, in the movie "Inchon". OK, we get Tommy Lee Jones, Arkansas accent and all. Costuming did it's part, the uniform and crushed cap, corn-cob pipe, and all that...on a short guy who looked nothing like the real guy...sorta reminded me of General MacArthur as he would have been played by Yosemite Sam! Best casting was of the beautiful actress who played Aya, the lost love of Fox' character. All Japanese actors were perfectly cast as their actual counterparts in history. Sets were fine, locations in Japan and rural New Zealand (as parts of rural Japan). Vehicles were spot-on. Even a background Japanese Chi-ha tank. Japanese speak Japanese with English subtitles 90% of the movie. I wish the subtitles would have been used when the Japanese spoke English, as many were so thickly accented it was difficult to understandexcept in context. I wouls recommend this to a person interested in the history presented. Look not for action nor courtroom stuff...it's what goes on behind the scenes putting an indictment together.

Fairly accurate discussion of the period surrounding the Japanese surrender, and the events leading into it. Some felt Hirohito should have been hung, and their arguments are reasonable and valid. Japan never confronted its atrocities during WW2 as did the German people confronted theirs under Hitler, and most young Japanese have no idea of the wretched butchery Japan committed - which has political consequences today as no Japanese leader has truly apologized for what they did in China, for example, leaving the Chinese with constant fury over Japanese behavior against their ancestors (forget for a moment Mao Zedongs' even worse atrocities, as the average Chinese has no idea about that either). The film has a Japanese giving a lecture to an embarrassed American on world history, as if America was "Just as bad" by fully false moral equivalence, as a set up to discuss the atom bombing of Hiroshima and fire-bombing of Tokyo etc., but not a peep about the rapine torture and massacre of 350,000 mostly unarmed Chinese civilians in Nanking by Japanese using Samauri swords and bayonettes, nor the use of Black Plague germ warfare on Chinese regions by Japan as they were withdrawing from, which took another quarter-million lives. Nor the bombing of Manila and brutal rape-slavery of Philippino and Korean women, men being labor slaves or just killed... etc., etc. Or the fanatical savagery of Japanese troops on their captured islands, where surrender was forbidden by Shinto warrior codes, and thereby they abused and tortured surrendered British, Americans and Australians without restraint. Or the Kamakazi attacks, which came too late to end the war in their favor, but made the Americans furious and convinced that any landing of troops to take the Japanese homeland would be a multi-million casualty blood-bath -- which led directly to the decision to use the a-bomb.Even American youth are not taught these details even as the a-bombs or incindiary raids (which killed far fewer than the two single events in China mentioned above) are emphasized. The film is typical Hollywood left-wing degenerate, though the acting of the various players, and reasonable accuracy of Hirohito trying to cut a deal to surrender before and after the a-bombs has validity, though even that could be made clearer. Factually, Hirohito's agents made a secret outreach to America through the Soviet Embassy, but Americans realized he was not directly in control of the Japanese military, and so could not take his gestures as meaningful -- which in any case always demanded his status as God Emperor be preserved. He was far more involved in the decision-making to start the war, invading China (Manchuria) which was another series of atrocities, as well as continuing the war so long as the outcome favored the "God-Chosen Superior Being" Japanese Empire. As one Japanese MP said (and was shot by an angry associate) "Hirohito was willing to fight to the very last Japanese person, to save his own sorry life as a God".As to MacArthur, the film might have included a sentence or two about his benign dictatorship, where by declaration he re-organized Japanese society to rid it of feudal slavery. Feudal land-holdings were broken up, with real land distribution to peasant farmers (not like in Communist nations, where such was promised but the Communist Party actually kept all lands and profits for itself). He ended hereditary prostitution and arranged marriages, gave women freedom and established a parlaiment where everyone had equal vote, plus a legal system of independent jurists. The Emperor was forced to renounce his "God" status and go walk among the people, showing he was an ordinary nose-picker like everyone else.Bottom line: Don't trust Hollywood movies for your history lessons.

I nearly gave it four stars, but in the end went for three stars. It's OK. The potential was definitely there to make a great film. It is about whether or not to try Emperor Hirohito for war crimes, and, for what it is worth, I think that General MacArthur's decision not to try him was the correct one. Wars will always happen, and this one was going to happen whoever gave the order to start it. The real question that should have been asked, in my opinion, is not whether he countersigned the order for Pearl Harbor, (he almost certainly did), but whether Hirohito was directly responsible for the atrocities committed by Japanese troops, (almost certainly not). Was the superficiality of the arguments and the investigation why this film failed? Probably not.Interwoven with that is a love story sub-plot. Personally, I suspect that the love story sub-plot was the reason why this film failed to gel. The love story sub-plot as presented in the film raised a lot of questions that simply weren't answered.

After 'Hiroshima' and 'Nagasaki' August 1945, 'Emperor Hirohito' surrenders.'General Douglas MacArthur' leads the post-war occupation force with thetask of rebuilding 'Japan'His orders also include bringing both politicians and military responsible forthe war and atrocities to book, the order also includes proving the 'Emperor'to be responsible.The Supreme Commander General MacArthur' instructs 'General Bonner Fellers'to collect the evidence and investigate the 'Emperor' to see if sufficient groundscan be found to effect charges against him.'Bonner Fellers' had been chosen to lead the investigation because of his Knowledgeof 'Japan''Bonner' prior to the outbreak of war had romantic links with 'Aya' , now he's backin 'Japan' he try's to determine whether she'd survived.The film is based on real-events that took place after the 'Japanese' surrender.An absorbing and well portrayed account of the investigations into war-crimes afterthe surrender.Good picture and sound quality on the HD format.(wonder how many allied personnel would have been investigated had the outcomebeen reversed.....just a thought.)Personally, as much as I like this type of drama, war itself is a criminal occurrence inmy view.Well worth a viewing if you have interest in historical drama

Enjoyed this movie & wondered why Tommy Lee Jones was walking & standing awkwardly & it was only at the end when I saw the actual 'photo that I realised why(therefore well acted)

I FOUND THIS FILM INTERESTING, NOT KNOWING MUCH AT ALL ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED IN THE TAKE OVER OF DEFEATED JAPAN.WITHIN THE TIME LIMIT IT DID AN O.K JOB.

A good storyline spoiled by too much emphasis on a love match between american soldier and japanese girl. Did not see the point of it.