Film Review: 'The Sun'

Before 1945, the Emperor of Japan was the supreme leader of the gods, the only representative of Amaterasu Omikami in the world, and when Japan was defeated in 1945, the Allied commander, General MacArthur, came to him and said, "You are not a god." On New Year's Day 1946, Emperor Hirohito issued the "Universal Declaration", renouncing his divinity and becoming an ordinary human being, and free to pursue the responsibilities of war, a free emperor.
"The Sun" is the final part of Russian director Alexander Sokolov's "Twentieth Century Rulers Trilogy" and thus follows his footage of Emperor Hirohito during the war against Japan. Hirohito fails in his performance to get the most out of the Japanese Emperor's inner world.
After the two atomic bombs exploded in Japan, the last hope of the Axis powers was completely destroyed. As the initiator of the war and the supreme commander of the Japanese army, Emperor Hirohito was under enormous psychological pressure and suffering. He does not know what the fate of this country is, what the future of this country is and how it will end. As the film begins, he hangs up the phone, orders the radio to be turned on and off, eats nothing, and lies in bed, frowning and in pain. In the presence of his humble servant, he begins to doubt his own divinity, his failure in the war and the damage done to their reputation.
A visit from the Allied commander MacArthur changed many of his thoughts. Emperor Hirohito believed that dignity was the most important thing to him, and that everyone else was a servant. The American general said, "Americans have no servants." . But the Emperor clearly felt the dignity of the tall Mike Arthur.
Emperor Hirohito was a very amateur marine biologist who discovered new creatures by the hundreds throughout his life. The film is about the Emperor, who, even under great pressure, never forgets to go to the laboratory to observe specimens. emperor Hirohito is a man who is familiar with western culture and history. In his youth he studied and visited in the West, which gave him much insight. Thus, he had three bronze statues on his desk: Napoleon, Abraham Lincoln and Darwin. But, above all, the emperor did not know whether he was a man or a god.
"He was like a child," MacArthur said, "and as other American journalists and soldiers looked at the Emperor with curiosity and respect, they exclaimed, "Is this the Japanese Emperor?" !" Indeed, Hirohito's underwhelming performance, diminutive stature and absurd behaviour made outsiders look unlike the man who had waged such a massive war. He's a man who can't open doors, runs to see a crane bow, is clumsy and doesn't speak clearly. Very funny.
But, as with history, he cherished his face. Forever emphasising the dignity of the Royale family. Even with such a great war death, he simply said, "The problem is not what we did, but what the world thinks we are doing." . "The former Royal Meiji had the mistake of saying that the Taisho Emperor said he saw the Aurora Borealis, which everyone now knows is impossible, and Emperor Hirohito said, "I have no doubt that the Emperor Meiji was a great poet."
In the palace he was looked after all his life, he could live with dignity and respect, but when he lost his servant to MacArthur, he was at sea. Once an emperor, he now became a summoner of winds and a caller of rain, so full of himself that he did plunge himself into reflection and great anguish. He prayed to the Emperor and to God under the moon, then issued the Universal Declaration in return for asylum in America. But the suspicion that Emperor Hirohito does not stop. What kind of a man was he?
Perhaps Emperor Hirohito sat in the wrong position as a child, a child at heart who probably did not mean too much killing, he just wanted to spread the Emperor's imperial grace to East Asia. He was the longest reigning emperor, the emperor went from god to man, he waged wars but only condoned the unlimited expansion of military power, he did not direct the wars but chose the most brutal generals. The Emperor was always slow, sluggish, cautious and wrong. What face should the devil face?
The film ends with a shudder of surprise when he learns of the release of the record of the suicide against that announcer, pulling back and hurrying away. The dull, middle-aged, short man, seemingly full of contradictions, seems to be a divided people, the controller of power in the country, and yet it seems to be just a puppet, a symbol.
The Russian and Japanese origins run very deep and this is widely considered to be the last of the trilogy, with Sokolov's good intentions. However, with the vague image behind it, it seems we do not understand the emperor as the director sees him, which is a kind of man.