People's Daily on Pride

David Hopkins hopkat
Fri May 15 20:53:13 EDT 1998



----------
From: 	Ono Seiko and Aaron Gerow
Sent: 	Saturday, May 16, 1998 12:38 AM
To: 	KineJapan
Subject: 	People's Daily on Pride

It was also reported in the papers that the Chinese _People's Daily_ ???  

???published an editorial article on the 14th severely criticizing the
production of _Puraido: Unmei no toki_, the Toei-released film that
focuses on Tojo Hideki and the Tokyo war crimes trails.  The film, which
opens on May 23rd, has already sparked criticism inside Japan for
reportedly depicting Tojo favorably.

The Chinese paper declared (translating from the Japanese) that
"fabricating this kind of movie is a threat to the people of Asia and a
challenge against international society."  Entitled "The Beautification
of War Criminals Cannot Be Excused", the article said that "the filming
of _Pride_ is not an accident, but a product of the expansion of
right-wing forces in Japanese society."

While I haven't seen the film, the fact that one of the first previews
was for LDP members and that the print ads basically construct Tojo as a
Japanese Jefferson Smith (the top blurb: "Tojo vs. America: A sole
individual's fight with a nation's pride at stake"; and the "quote" from
Tojo: "I will fight. At this rate, Japan and the Japanese will be
rendered the worst of nations and peoples."), my impression is that the
People's Daily is not too far off the mark.

Anyone (such as Mark) seen the film yet?

Aaron Gerow
YNU

well, I told you about this movie when I first joined back in February. I 
haven't seen the finished movie, but I have a copy of the final draft of the 
script, which I'll be happy to copy for you if you'll send me your address 
and, say, ?1000 of bookstore coupons.

I would say it's just as bad as the worst you can imagine. On the other 
hand, I can't imagine it being popular with young people, who would be the 
only group unlikely to have a formed opinion on the topic.

The Wall Street Journal already covered it, too, on April 30th, and although 
the article seemed to be based more on the press conference announcing the 
movie than on the movie itself, they got it about right, I thought. 
Bizarrely, they said that Tsugawa Masahiko was the "Robert DeNiro of Japan," 
while I think of him as a hack TV actor. Does he have any fans?

Anyway, free publicity is what the filmmakers want and need, so I say, 
ignore it. If you do go to see it, I'm the handsome middle-aged American 
officer behind the witness stand who is giving the finger to the camera all 
the time.

David Hopkins in Tenri
Oyasato 23-105
Tenri 632-0033






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