Completely destroyed by US aerial bombardment and facing nuclear annihilation, Japan has just surrendered. General Douglas MacArthur has just arrived to lead the American occupation of Japan, with the long-term goal of rebuilding Japan as a modern, democratic, pro-Western and relatively demilitarized country; in the short-term, he has to punish Japan’s WW II war criminals. MacArthur makes a grand strategic decision not to blame the Emperor of Japan for the war, but to enlist the authority of the Emperor in support of MacArthur’s efforts. Emperor is the story of this moment in world history, with Tommy Lee Jones playing MacArthur.
Tommy Lee Jones is always fun to watch, especially when he is not suffering fools, and he does an excellent job of portraying MacArthur’s decisiveness, self-promotion and vanity. But he is is perhaps too sympathetic here, failing to capture MacArthur’s absolute and defining narcissism.
But we only occasionally see MacArthur. Most of the screen time is reserved for the officer (Matthew Fox of Lost) gathering the evidence that will justify MacArthur’s preferred option (absolving the Emperor). Unfortunately, Fox’s character is also searching for the Japanese woman who was his pre-war lover. Unpeeling the onion of the Japanese imperial bureaucracy is more interesting than the sappy love story.
Given that it was directed by Peter Webber (Girl With a Pearl Earring), I had higher hopes for Emperor. I would recommend it only for those with an interest in WW II and Japanese history.