Emperor
Short description
In the aftermath of Japan's surrender in 1945, General Bonner Fellers, an American expert on Japanese culture, arrives in a devastated Tokyo under the authority of General Douglas MacArthur. His assignment is to determine whether Emperor Hirohito should be tried as a war criminal, a decision with enormous consequences for the occupied country and for the relationship between the two nations. At the same time, Fellers searches for Aya, a Japanese exchange student he came to know in the United States before the war and who has since returned home.
Peter Webber directed the film, which he made between Hannibal Rising and the documentary Earth: One Amazing Day, working from a screenplay by David Klass and Vera Blasi. Matthew Fox plays Fellers, with Tommy Lee Jones as MacArthur and Eriko Hatsune as Aya. The supporting cast includes Masayoshi Haneda, Kaori Momoi and Toshiyuki Nishida.
Released in September 2012 after a production involving companies in the United States and Japan, the historical drama earned about 15 million dollars worldwide. Audience response was moderate, with a rating of 6.5 out of 10 on IMDb from more than 14,000 votes and 6.2 out of 10 on TMDB. A critics' score of 5.2 out of 10 from 90 reviews places it somewhat below the audience ratings.
What's left behind the scenes
- The romantic relationship between the characters played by Matthew Fox and Eriko Hatune was invented specifically for the film. In reality, Bonner Fellows married in 1925, and his wife accompanied him on two long assignments to the Philippines, as well as to China and Japan.
- Eriko Hatune's character is based on Yuri Watanabe, whom Fellows met in 1915 and with whom he maintained a friendship until her death in June 1954.
- Fellows was awarded two Orders of the Sacred Treasure. This order was established in 1888 by Emperor Meiji (1852-1912), who advocated for the modernization of Japan.
- Before the United States entered World War II, Fellers, holding the rank of colonel, was responsible for conducting psychological operations and drafting detailed reports on British military activity in North Africa. The Nazis managed to break his cipher, which cost the British dearly. The cipher had to be changed when the US entered the war. Fellers became known due to this circumstance and his activities in post-war Japan. The film's epilogue states that Fellers was demoted to colonel. This happened not because of any misconduct on his part, but due to the post-war reduction in military personnel. In 1948, upon his retirement, Fellers was promoted to the rank of brigadier general.
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