with Issey Ogata as Emperor Hirohito
The Sun
concerns the Japanese surrender to the United States at the end of the
Second World War following the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It
focuses almost exclusively on the actions of the Japanese Emperor,
Hirohito, and places great emphasis on his decision to renounce his
singular divinity and to live as a man rather than as a descendant of
the sun goddess, Amaterasu. It has not been as widely shown in Japan as
one might expect because it breaks a serious taboo in having an actor
play the Emperor and especially in depicting him as it does (including a
very prominent facial tic.) This is not to say that Sokurov in any way
sets out to humiliate the character he has shown in this unusual way.
Though he is clearly identified with Charlie Chaplin, it is not done so
in order to paint him as a pathetic clown, but to show (among other
matters) Hirohito’s awareness of his having played a role as a divine
ruler and playing, in his present situation within the film, an actor on the World
Stage.
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