28 Jul Emperor
(2012) Emperor is a story about the postwar occupation of Japan. General Douglas MacArthur arrives as the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers. He promptly gives Brigadier General Bonner Fellers ten days to investigate the fate of Emperor Hirohito. What was his role in the war? Did he specifically order the bombing of Pearl Harbor? Should he be accused of war crimes and hanged?
My World War II studies have focused on the European war. What I liked most about Emperor is that it caused me to do a little research into Bonner Fellers (played by Matthew Fox.) On his website, maintained by the family, it states prominently that this movie is “inspired by true events. Many aspects are historically accurate, but it is a creative narrative, not a documentary of Bonner Fellers’ personal or professional life.”
Of course, that refers to the slightly-distracting-purely-fictional side story of Fellers’ love interest, a Japanese girl he had met before the war.
Tommy Lee Jones is General MacArthur. I usually figure that any movie he is in will be a pretty good one. He did not disappoint.
Based on the book His Majesty’s Salvation by Shiro Okamoto (which I can’t find anywhere in the US,) screenwriter credits for Emperor go to David Klass and Vera Blasi. In the 1980s, Klass worked as a “Mombusho English Fellow” at a high school in Japan.
I enjoyed Emperor because it gave me the desire to delve deeper.
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