The Emperor's Naked Army Marches On

Yuki Yukite shingun

Japan

1987

122 Min

Color

Japanese

Currently 4.4/5 Stars.
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CAST Kenzo Okuzaki, Riichi Aikawa, Masaichi Hamaguchi

Berlinale (Forum), BAFICI (Focus 40 Years of Berlin's Forum)

Synopsis

Kenzo Okuzaki, a veteran of the campaign in New Guinea, began a solitary terror crusade against Emperor Hirohito, whom he accused of crimes committed during World War II, and whom he even got to attack with a homemade pistol. Hara follows Okuzaki’s peculiar life and records the changes in the behaviour of a man who, aware of the camera and the consequences of his acts, grows increasingly radical and begins to look for strategies aimed at manipulating the truth. One of the most controversial documentaries ever made about Japan’s history. –BAFICI

Director

Kazuo Hara

Throughout the four decades of his career, Hara Kazuo has pursued the bizarre and disturbing margins of Japanese society, certain that central truths are to be found in fringe phenomena. His method of documentation, which he calls “action documentary,” pursues the shocking effect of the action film, following the gesture and staying in the moment – not commenting in voiceover from a safe distance. Hara’s innovations have transformed documentary filmmaking, and contributed directly to the current ascendance of the documentary, both within the industry and among audiences, on a global scale. His best-known admirer is Michael Moore, who lists Hara as one of his favorite directors.

Born in 1945, Hara Kazuo was influenced as a young man by the protest movements that took place throughout Japan and the world in the late 1960s and 70s. He founded Shisso Productions in 1971 with his wife, producer, and primary collaborator Sachiko Kobayashi. He has published five documentary films thus… read more