Pride

Sat May 23 23:12:10 EDT 1998

    The CNN website carried an item from the AP wire service on the film
"Pride" today.  I guess we can't ignore it, even if we wanted to.  (I
hope AP doesn't sue me for quoting the article...)

Film depicts Tojo, Japan's WWII leader, as a hero

May 23, 1998
Web posted at: 2:39 p.m. EDT (1839 GMT)

TOKYO (AP) -- A Japanese movie that stirred controversy for depicting
Japan's most notorious war criminal as a hero was released Saturday
throughout the country amid protests from neighboring Asian countries.

The film, "Pride," about Japan's wartime leader Gen. Hideki Tojo, has
provoked harsh criticism from China and North Korea. But the movie had a
quiet start in Tokyo, where no protests were held and theaters had empty
seats.

So far, the Japanese public has largely ignored the movie. Aside from
one small campaign against it by a labor union, there have been no major
demonstrations.

But in Beijing, the state-run Xinhua News Agency again attacked the film
Saturday calling it "reactionary," saying it "turns history upside
down" and sought to beautify Japan's wartime actions.

At Marunouchi Toei theater in Tokyo's posh Ginza shopping district, only
the first showing -- which was preceded by greetings from the film's
stars -- was nearly full. The other three viewings had plenty of empty
seats, the theater said.

The film opened at some 140 other theaters around the country.

Toei, the studio that made "Pride," said viewer reaction has been good
at special screenings before Saturday's release. Some people were deeply
moved, and others left feeling proud of being
Japanese, Toei said.

Tojo was hanged 50 years ago after being tried as a Class-A war criminal
at the Military Tribunal  for the Far East in Tokyo.

Tojo, who served as prime minister from 1941 to 1944, gave the go-ahead
for the attack on Pearl Harbor. In one scene in the film, Tojo refuses
to believe that Japanese forces carried out the
Nanjing Massacre in China. The filmmakers defend the scene as faithful
to Tojo's personality.

In announcing the film earlier this month, Toei, said the company wanted
to correct the perception imposed by American victors that Tojo was a
militarist aggressor.

"Pride" cost $11 million to make, three times Toei's usual budget.

The film suggests Tojo was actually a peaceful man who took Japan to war
in self-defense and to liberate Asia from Western colonialism -- a
popular view among Japanese ultra right-wing activists and politicians
who defend Japan's wartime role.

Last week, China expressed "shock" at the way Tojo was portrayed in the
film, and North Korea called it "shameless."

Fending off growing international criticism, Foreign Ministry pokesman
Sadaaki Numata said Friday: "Whatever may be contained in this film in
no way reflects the position of the government of Japan."

Lawrence Marceau