Japan's symbolic rising sun is in the process of setting in "The Sun" ("Solntse"), Russian filmmaker Aleksandr Sokurov's
haunting, hypnotic account of Emperor Hirohito's actions in the final days of World War II. What an anxious, contemplative movie this is! Sokurov, with a screenplay by Yuri Arabov, relates the story in a dreamlike fashion, focusing on Hirohito (Issei Ogata) as he continues to shuffle around his palace while his nation slowly loses its foothold in the war. With long, unbroken takes, Sokurov shows the emperor's shrinking manservants -- who, like all of Japan, deify Hirohito -- waiting on his whims, eager to serve him and utterly fearful of his powers. His military advisers are more frightened of him than of the Allies. The man himself is certainly not imposing, though. Ogata plays Hirohito as twitchy and preoccupied, a calm, almost bemused old figure who is starting to give in to despair and who holds out little hope for a Japanese victory. He moves slowly, just as all the other Japanese characters in the film do, as if under water. If this were a cartoon, they would all be portrayed as turtles.
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