The Sun ( Solntse ) ( Il Sole ) ( Le Soleil )

The Sun ( Solntse ) (DVD) (*)

~~$24.99~~ $18.97

Original Title: Il Sole
Alternate Title: Le Soleil
Screened, competed or awarded at:
Berlin International Film Festival
Other Film Festival Awards

Language Selections:
English ( Dolby Digital 2.0 )
English ( Subtitles )

Product Origin/Format:
United Kingdom ( PAL/Region 2 )

Running Time:
106 min

Aspect Ratio:
Anamorphic Widescreen (1.78:1)

Special Features:
Filmographies
Interactive Menu
Production Notes
Trailer(s)

Movie filmed in 2005 and produced in:
France ( France, Benelux )
Italy ( Italy, Greece )
Russia ( Russia, Eastern Europe )
Switzerland ( Germany, Central Europe )

Directed By:
Aleksandr Sokurov

Written By:
Aleksandr Sokurov
Yuri Arabov

Actors:
Issei Ogata ..... Shouwa-Tennou Hirohito
Robert Dawson ..... General Douglas MacArthur
Kaori Momoi ..... Empress Kojun
Shirô Sano ..... The chamberlain
Shinmei Tsuji ..... Old servant
Taijiro Tamura ..... Scientist
Georgi Pitskhelauri ..... McArthur's warrant officer
Hiroya Morita ..... Suzuki, Prime Minister
Toshiaki Nishizawa ..... Yonai, Minister of the Navy
Naomasa Musaka ..... Anami, Minister of the War
Yusuke Tozawa ..... Kido
Kojiro Kusanagi ..... Togo, Minister of Foreign Affairs
Tetsuro Tsuno ..... General Umezu
Rokuro Abe ..... General Toyoda
Jun Haichi ..... Abe, Minister of the Interior

Synopsis:

The predictably unreliable Russian filmmaker Alexander Sokurov has shot this wonderfully eccentric and fascinating film about the last days of Emperor Hirohito's reign as if it were a science-fiction film. And indeed, the otherworldly Hirohito (Issey Ogata) certainly does suggest a somewhat less cuddlesome E. T., both in his alienation from the quotidian world (the coddled emperor can barely dress himself) and in his relationship with his nominally more human protector, in this case General MacArthur (Robert Dawson). Shot in 35 millimeter in the filmmaker's preferred brackish tones, "The Sun" traces Hirohito as he wanders about his compound engaged in meaningless rituals and surrounded by minders who are as much his guards as his servants. In one of the most revelatory scenes, Hirohito, an amateur scientist, dons a white lab coat to examine the pickled remains of a hermit crab. As he waxes poetic about this pathetic pale specimen, there can be no doubt that the emperor - an all-too-human man raised as a god - is effectively staring into a mirror. Mr. Ogata, whose mouth incessantly opens and shuts as if the emperor were nothing more than a very costly pet carp, is mesmerizing. This is the third in a trilogy of films about dictators by Mr. Sokurov, who remains best known here for the technological marvel "Russian Ark." More approachable and certainly far more enjoyable than the first films in the trilogy, "Moloch" (about Hitler) and "Taurus" (Lenin), "The Sun" envisions Hirohito as somewhat of a victim of history without ever suggesting that the emperor should be excused for the role he played in the tragedy of war. This take may not sit well with historians or the literal-minded, but as a portrait of pathology - that of Japan and of Hirohito both - it's terrific.

Third part in Aleksandr Sokurov's tetrology, following "Moloch" and "Taurus", focuses on Japanese Emperor Hirohito and Japan's defeat in World War II when he is finally confronted by Gen. Douglas MacArthur who offers him to accept a diplomatic defeat for survival.

This product was added to our catalog on Tuesday 01 April, 2008.

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