Description: In the summer of 1945, with Tokyo under siege by American forces, Japanese Emperor Hirohito remains in seclusion from the world in an underground bunker. Held by his people as a deity, the incarnation of the Sun God, Hirohito is sheltered from the devastation that surrounds him as he is waited on hand and foot by his servants. After the razing of Tokyo and bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Hirohito finally meets with General MacArthur. And, in August, millions of Japanese citizens are stunned to hear the voice of their Emperor for the first time as he commands his people to cease all fighting. The address saves the lives of countless Japanese and Allied forces alike, but the victorious powers insist that Emperor Hirohito appear before a military tribunal for war crimes. Sokurov’s fascinating film chronicles the events leading up to Hirohito’s monumental speech, the historic renunciation of his divine status and his meetings with General MacArthur, who advises his own President not to declare the Japanese leader a war criminal. Featuring a power-house central performance by Issey Ogata, Sokurov creates an intimate human portrait of the infamous Emperor Hirohito as he faces the unraveling of his own power, and the tragedy that besets his country. [Lorber HT Digital]