A great many moral questions still surround the way the United States ended World War II with Japan. Some agree with President Truman and his supporters who claim that the use of atomic bombs was necessary to shorten the war and avoid an invasion. Others argue that the intentional slaughter of Japanese civilians (estimates range from 300,000 to 500,000) makes Truman a war criminal since he rebuffed all proposals to let the Japanese keep their emperor in exchange for surrender. These huge issues form the backdrop for Emperor, a fascinating drama set in Tokyo following the end of World War II.
General Douglas MacArthur (Tommy Lee Jones) has arrived to oversee the American occupation and rebuilding of Japan. One of the most difficult tasks facing him is what to do with the Emperor Hirohito (Takataro Kataoka) who is honored by the people as a divine leader. During the war, many young warriors sacrificed themselves in battle in his honor, dying in countless kamikaze attacks. MacArthur, who has ambitions of becoming President of the United States, hands the hornet's nest of determining whether or not the Emperor should be tried and executed as a war criminal over to U.S. General Bonner Fellers (Matthew Fox), a military intelligence officer with a wide knowledge and appreciation of Japan and its unique history and culture.
When Fellers arrives in Tokyo, the city is a bombed out graveyard of skulls, bones, and destroyed homes and buildings. As he starts his investigation of the Emperor, he has his driver Takahashi (Masayoshi Haneda) do a search for Aya (Eriko Hatsune), a school teacher he fell in love with years ago. When another military official, General Richter (Colin May), discovers this affair he calls Fellers a "Jap lover" and tries to discredit him to MacArthur.
Peter Webber (Girl With a Pearl Earring) directs this old-fashioned cross-cultural epic as we watch the intricate dance between the American conquerors and the proud Japanese survivors. The screenplay by Davis Klass and Vera Blasi effectively conveys the complexity of Fellers's task as he struggles to find within the Emperor's inner circle someone who will definitively reveal his culpability or innocence in ordering the attack on Pearl Harbor.
A heated conversation between the investigator and a Japanese diplomat shows both America and Japan have plenty of blood on their hands from their respective imperial excursions. The filmmakers are to be commended for exploring the ethical complexities of occupation, war crimes, cross-cultural blocks, and the heroism it takes for peacemakers to take a stand against military leaders.
Special features on the DVD include: the "making of" featurette; an audio commentary with director Peter Webber and producer Yôko Narahashi; deleted scenes; and a photo gallery.
