Newton Ramalho
colunaclaquete@gmail.com - www.colunaclaquete.blogspot.com - @colunaclaquete
Movies of the Week: "The
Eternal Zero" and "Emperor"
The history of humanity is full of conflicts,
many of them of catastrophic proportions, and, by the way, without much
prospect of change. Trying to get a glimpse of what was one of the world
greatest conflicts, World War II, I propose to the reader two films about the
war and one of its most complex actors, Japan. The films are "The Eternal
Zero" and "Emperor".
Japan's culture has always been complex and
diverse from nearby countries, mainly due to self apartness imposed by their
leaders, and that was only broken - by force of guns - by Europeans and
Americans in the mid-19th century.
Up to that time the country was in a feudal
system, with a highly stratified society, with an emperor worshiped as a living
god, but where the real power remained in the hands of feudal lords.
The arrival of the Westerners obliged them to
see how the country was technologically lagged behind the rest of the world,
and then happened a sudden and traumatic change when a society that maintained
the same habits for a thousand years was forced to adopt new habits and
lifestyle.
This sudden change, combined with an increasing
militarization, and a desire to expansion repressed for centuries, made Japan
turn into a different country, belligerent and ambitious for new resources.This
change was notably portrayed in the movie "The Last Samurai".
The early 20th century was a period of
affirmation of the power of war of the Japanese, who came to defeat the
powerful Russia in a dispute over some islands. Over the decades, the Japanese
invaded part of China, Korea and other Asian countries, and later became
involved in World War II, partner to Germany and Italy.
The film "The Eternal Zero" takes a
look under the stance of the Japanese soldier, especially the suicide pilots,
who threw their planes on Allied ships. These aircraft, called Zero, were a
highly advanced technological design at the time of its release, and with a
group of experienced pilots was a set virtually unbeatable.
Nowadays, after grandmother's death, two
brothers, Kentaro (Haruma Miura) and Keiko (Kazue Fukiishi), discovered that
the one they knew as grandfather was not their biological grandfather. Their
real grandfather had died in World War II.
They decide to investigate more about it, but
when interviewing former colleagues of their grandfather, only received
negative comments, most of them saying he had been a selfish coward. Only a few
of them assumed that Miyabe (Okada Jun'ichi) was one of the best pilots of the
Japanese Navy, and clashed with colleagues because he desagrred with the
obsession of dying for the country blindly.He believed that everyone should do
their utmost to survive the war and return to their families.
A few friends were able to realize the
greatness of Miyabe, and the sacrifices he made to protect peers and students
in the war. These discoveries about his grandfather causes in Kentaro changes
in his own life and his way of seeing the world. Some secrets are revealed,
while others will rest forever in silence.
"The Eternal Zero" is a well-directed
film with several scenes of aerial combat, and many flashbacks, but with a
well-told story thanks to the script well built. The dialogues may seem strange
to Westerners, because the Japanese language is very guttural, and it always
seems that they are in a deadly game.
The second film in question is
"Emperor". The historical moment depicted in the movie is the period
immediately after Japan's surrender in World War II. This surrender, carried
out after the explosion of two atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki saved
thousands of lives, japanese and americans, that would have been lost if the
conflict had continued.
After the surrender, Japan was occupied by US
forces commanded by General Douglas MacArthur (Tommy Lee Jones), who assumed
the post of supreme leader of the occupation. MacArthur had political ambitions
and wanted to run for the presidency of the United States, using his image of
war hero.
To satisfy voters eagers for vengeance, he had
to point and send to trial the war criminals, as happened with the German top
officials at Nuremberg.
Among all the names, one was the most dubious.
Japan's Emperor Hirohito (Takatarô Kataoka) was appointed by the Western press
as the main responsible for atrocities committed by Japan before and during the
war. On the other hand, arrest and possibly hang a man who was considered a god
by the Japanese population would be enough to ignite the country with revolts
of unimaginable extension.
MacArthur determines his general assistant
Bonner Fellers (Matthew Fox) to investigate on the liability of Hirohito and
their participation in decisions on war, especially the attack on Pearl Harbor.
Fellers always admired Japanese culture, and
had done studies about the Nipponese soldier, long before the start of the
conflict. He begins to interview top people from the Japanese government,
seeking clues to justify the guilt or innocence of the emperor.
At the same time, he investigates the
whereabouts of Aya Shimada (Eriko Hatsune), a Japanese teacher who met at
university, and by whom he had fallen in loveThe two investigations seem to
have no definition in the midst of a war-torn country.
Although being a western movie, the plot tries
to show the ambiguous Emperor situation, a symbolic figure that was considered
a deity by the population, and at the same time devoid of real power in an
extremely complex culture where the individual is never more important than the
collective.
Both films are interesting and historically
rich, showing a different side of Japan that we are normally used to seeing on
screen.
