DARKNESS PERVADES THE SUN
In 1945, the United States had conquered Japan, and Emperor Hirohito (played by Issei Ogata) was a prisoner is his own palace. General Douglas MacArthur (played by Robert Dawson), whose father had been a diplomat in Tokyo, had the task not only of persuading Hirohito to surrender on behalf of the nation but also to talk him into renouncing divinity as a descendant of the Sun God. The task was handled through a series of meetings, as depicted in The Sun (Solntse), directed by Aleksandr Sokurov, the last in his trilogy on dictators. Although the role of MacArthur is miscast as someone mild mannered instead of a pompous Missouri-accented general, The Sun has been nominated as best film exposé of 2009 for revealing the content of those conversations. MH