Reviews Film / Emperor

Pretty Satisfying For A Film Premised On Unsatisfying Conclusions

It's an old chestnut that one of the hardest things to write in fiction is an argument. The temptation is great to simply have one character lecture the other as they sit slack-jawed and impotent against the barrage of truth-bombs being blasted at them, especially if the author agrees with the lecturer. And with that in mind, the tone of the film is set in an early conversation between Fellers and Konoe. Konoe is absolutely right that America has got an awful lot of colonialism and ultranationalist warmongering in her past to be taking Japan to task now. Fellers is right that, even by ultranationalist warmongering colonialism standards, imperial Japan's co-prosperity sphere was pretty barbaric. The scene ends, not with a conclusion, or even mutual respect, but simply frustrated mutual withdrawal.

Emperor is, to spoil an 70+ year old plot twist, a mystery-thriller without a satisfactory conclusion. And it's okay, it says, because the future matters more.

As a work of history, I appreciate the refusal to hagiographize the Pacific theater. The aftermath of the horrific Tokyo firebombing is shown, repeatedly, with an early scene even discussing the smell that lingers in the air so long after the fact. Every American character is deeply flawed without being demonized, from MacArthur's self-serving ambition and love of political theater, to Fellers's private motives compromising him during the war, to even Richter's vengeful, vaguely-racist attitude tempered by being right about both of the former flaws. It doesn't overreact, but it does deliberately work against decades of portraying the Pacific theater.

How does it work as a film? The pacing isn't perfect, but it's generally pretty good. The investigation is generally rather tense, well-directed, and dramatic, even in quieter moments, and the frustration of constant stonewalling. Performances are human, subtle, reliant on facial expression rather than dialogue in key moments.

There is a romantic subplot. It was not quite the boring, uncomfortable time sink I expected it to be, since it was used to develop character, to explain finer points and details of Japanese culture to the audience in a context that makes sense, and has a very un-Hollywood conclusion, but it was still the weakest part of the film. Also, while Jones more than earns his keep at the beginning and end of the film, nearly every appearance he makes in the middle reeks of gratuity, casting a star in a script that gives him not much to do and wanting to get more out of him.

In the end, I liked it. It wasn't perfect, but it made for good history and good drama, and with the disclaimer that I'm as white as the main cast, it didn't ding any alarm bells to me. If you're in the mood to sit down with your grown-up family and put on something everyone can enjoy that isn't total intellectual junk food, it's well worth your time.