FROM GOD TO MAN

REVIEWED - THE SUN/SOLONTSE: THE third film in Alexander Sokurov's developing tetralogy examining the miseries that accompany power is the most effective so far. Following his bizarre portrait of Hitler in Moloch (1999) and his confusing musings on Lenin in Taurus (2000), Sokurov sets out to explain the processes that led Emperor Hirohito to renounce his divine status, thus allowing the Japanese people to surrender to the Allies.

Adopting a more forgiving position than that taken by many contemporary historians, the Russian director sees his hero as a humble, rational man, slightly embarrassed by this god business that keeps following him around. Appearing in virtually every frame, his piscine mouth frequently agape, the impressive Issey Ogata uses the tiniest twitches to suggest a man eager to escape his circumstances.

Unsurprisingly, given Sokurov's record, the film doesn't exactly belt along. Composed of long takes (though all seem short after the director's Russian Ark), The Sun takes us through the day the emperor first meets Gen MacArthur (a stilted Robert Dawson). He eats breakfast. He retires to study marine biology. He meets the government. Then, just as we appear hopelessly mired in ritual, this student of evolution has a bizarre vision of the city under attack by monstrous flying fish. A striking moment in a thoughtful film.