''The Sun'' (russian: Сóлнце, ''Solntse'') is a 2005 Russian

biographical film A biographical film or biopic () is a film that dramatizes the life of a non-fictional or historically-based person or people. Such films show the life of a historical person and the central character's real name is used. They differ from docud ...

directed by Alexander Sokurov, depicting

Japanese Emperor The Emperor of Japan is the monarch and the head of the Imperial Family of Japan. Under the Constitution of Japan, he is defined as the symbol of the Japanese state and the unity of the Japanese people, and his position is derived from "the ...

Shōwa (

Hirohito Emperor , commonly known in English-speaking countries by his personal name , was the 124th emperor of Japan, ruling from 25 December 1926 until his death in 1989. Hirohito and his wife, Empress Kōjun, had two sons and five daughters; he was ...

) during the final days of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. It is the third film in a trilogy by director Aleksandr Sokurov that includes ''Taurus'' about the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

Vladimir Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov. ( 1870 – 21 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin,. was a Russian revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. He served as the first and founding head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 to 1 ...

and ''Moloch'' about

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

. It received generally positive reviews from critics.

Plot

Towards the conclusion of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, Japan nears defeat as

Emperor Hirohito Emperor , commonly known in English-speaking countries by his personal name , was the 124th emperor of Japan, ruling from 25 December 1926 until his death in 1989. Hirohito and his wife, Empress Kōjun, had two sons and five daughters; he was ...

( Issey Ogata) reminisces about the final war years. He is depicted as still surrounded by his attentive staff who look after his every bodily need. When Hirohito receives a report from his collected military and civilian staff of imminent defeat, he appears detached and starts reciting oddly disconnected verse about Japan's geography written by his historical predecessors. He has an interest in marine biology, and his staff keep him entertained with new specimens being delivered to his library even in the last days and hours prior to American troops arriving on his doorstep. Finally, with the Americans imminently approaching, he is then set up in a bunker underneath his Imperial Palace in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

. Hirohito reflects on the foundation of the conflict while attempting to dictate peace terms. Later, U.S. military commander

General Douglas MacArthur Douglas MacArthur (26 January 18805 April 1964) was an American military leader who served as General of the Army for the United States, as well as a field marshal to the Philippine Army. He had served with distinction in World War I, was ...

( Robert Dawson) is sent to bring him through the ruins of Tokyo for a meeting regarding the occupation of the victorious Allied leaders. The two very different men strangely bond after sharing dinner and cigars, after which Hirohito retreats to his personal quarters. Following his admission of personal failures, Hirohito attempts to rebuild his war-ravaged country as a fully developed constitutional nation while his own future remains in doubt, as either the

Emperor of Japan The Emperor of Japan is the monarch and the head of the Imperial Family of Japan. Under the Constitution of Japan, he is defined as the symbol of the Japanese state and the unity of the Japanese people, and his position is derived from "the ...

or a war criminal.

Cast

* Issey Ogata as

* Robert Dawson as

* Kaori Momoi as

Empress Kōjun , born , was a member of the Imperial House of Japan, the wife of Emperor Shōwa (Hirohito) and the mother of Shigeko Higashikuni, Princess Sachiko Hisa-nomiya, Kazuko Takatsukasa, Atsuko Ikeda, the Emperor Emeritus Akihito, Prince Masahit ...

* Shiro Sano as the Chamberlain * Shinmei Tsuji as the Old Servant * Taijiro Tamura as the Scientist * Georgi Pitskhelauri as McArthur's Warrant Officer *

Hiroya Morita Hiroya is a masculine Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include: Possible Writings *博也, "command, to be (classical)" *弘也, "vast, to be (classical)" *浩哉, "wide expanse, how" *裕哉, "abundant, how" *寛也, "tolerant, t ...

Kantarō Suzuki Baron was a Japanese general and politician. He was an admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy, member and final leader of the Imperial Rule Assistance Association and Prime Minister of Japan from 7 April to 17 August 1945. Biography Early l ...

Toshiaki Nishizawa Toshiaki is a masculine Japanese given name. Possible writings Toshiaki can be written using many different combinations of kanji characters. Some examples: *敏明, "agile, bright" *敏朗, "agile, clear" *敏晃, "agile, clear" *敏章, "agil ...

Mitsumasa Yonai was a Japanese general and politician. He served as admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy, Minister of the Navy, and Prime Minister of Japan in 1940. Early life and career Yonai was born on 2 March 1880, in Morioka, Iwate Prefecture, the fi ...

* Naomasa Musaka as

Korechika Anami was a general in the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II who was War Minister during the surrender of Japan. Early life and career Anami was born in Taketa city in Ōita Prefecture, where his father was a senior bureaucrat in the Home ...

* Yusuke Tozawa as Kōichi Kido * Kōjirō Kusanagi as

Shigenori Tōgō (10 December 1882 – 23 July 1950), was Minister of Foreign Affairs for the Empire of Japan at both the start and the end of the Axis–Allied conflict during World War II. He also served as Minister of Colonial Affairs in 1941, and assume ...

* Tetsuro Tsuno as

Yoshijirō Umezu (January 4, 1882 – January 8, 1949) was a Japanese general in World War II and Chief of the Army General Staff during the final years of the conflict. He was convicted of war crimes and sentenced to life imprisonment. Biography Early life a ...

* Rokuro Abe as

Soemu Toyoda was an admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy in World War II. Biography Early career Toyoda was born in what is now part Kitsuki city, Ōita Prefecture. He graduated from the 33rd class of the Imperial Japanese Navy Academy in 1905, ranked ...

Jun Haichi Jun or JUN may refer to: People and anthroponymy * Jun (given name), a common Japanese given name * Jun (singer), a member of South Korean boy band U-KISS * Tomáš Jun, Czech footballer * A spelling of common Korean family name Jeon (Korean ...

as Nobuyuki Abe

Production

Filming

Having confessed himself in "not being interested in the history or politics which took place, and not really being interested in historical events of the period", Sokurov gives a personal impression of Hirohito while omitting all references to questions surrounding the Tokyo tribunal regarding the personal responsibility of the emperor as head of the

Imperial General Headquarters The was part of the Supreme War Council and was established in 1893 to coordinate efforts between the Imperial Japanese Army and Imperial Japanese Navy during wartime. In terms of function, it was approximately equivalent to the United States ...

in relation to

Japanese war crimes The Empire of Japan committed war crimes in many Asian-Pacific countries during the period of Japanese imperialism, primarily during the Second Sino-Japanese and Pacific Wars. These incidents have been described as an "Asian Holocaust". Some ...

. That omission results in the imperial conference between the emperor and his council and his meeting with MacArthur, in fact, contain none of the words actually related to imperial interpreter

Katsuzō Okumura Katsuzō, Katsuzo or Katsuzou (written: 勝造 or 勝蔵) is a masculine Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include: *, Japanese ichthyologist *, Japanese aikidoka *, Japanese government official {{DEFAULTSORT:Katsuzo Japanese m ...

's transcript. For example, as noted by Okumura, MacArthur praised the emperor's "august virtue" (''miitsu''). According to ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' ...

'', the film has not been widely screened in Japan because of fears of violence from

right wing Right-wing politics describes the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that view certain social orders and Social stratification, hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this pos ...

extremists over its portrayal of Hirohito.

Reception

Critical response

''The Sun'' has an approval rating of 93% on

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

, based on 42 reviews, and an average rating of 8.10/10. The website's critical consensus states, "Certainly not for the impatient, Aleksandr Sokurov's deliberately paced look at Hirohito in the waning days of World War II is both enlightening and admirable in its restraint". It also has a score of 85 out of 100 on

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, based on 12 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".

Awards

At the

2005 Russian Guild of Film Critics Awards 5 (five) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number, and cardinal number, following 4 and preceding 6, and is a prime number. It has attained significance throughout history in part because typical humans have five digits on eac ...

the film was awarded the prizes for Best Film, Best Director ( Alexander Sokurov) and Best Music (Andrei Sigle). The Sun won the Golden Apricot at the 2005 Yerevan International Film Festival,

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ...

, for Best Feature Film.

References

External links

*
''The Sun''
at

The Dream Director
film review by Daniel Mendelsohn from ''

The New York Review of Books ''The New York Review of Books'' (or ''NYREV'' or ''NYRB'') is a semi-monthly magazine with articles on literature, culture, economics, science and current affairs. Published in New York City, it is inspired by the idea that the discussion of i ...

'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Sun, The 2005 films 2000s biographical films Films directed by Alexander Sokurov Films set in Japan Pacific War films Cultural depictions of Hirohito Cultural depictions of Douglas MacArthur Japan in non-Japanese culture French World War II films Italian World War II films Russian World War II films Russian historical drama films Swiss World War II films 2000s French films Films set in bunkers