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The Emperor’s Naked Army Marches On

Director in Person
Screening on Film
Directed by Hara Kazuo.
Japan, 1987, 16mm, color, 122 min.

A true radical, Hara Kazuo has produced a series of shockingly personal documents which challenge the mores of postwar Japanese society through stark, revelatory modes of presentation. In The Emperor’s Naked Army Marches On, Hara turns his probing camera on Kenzo Okuzaki, a World War II veteran who served prison terms for murder and for shooting pachinko balls at the emperor. Okuzaki seeks out members of a squadron who were responsible for the death of two of their own soldiers. The pursuit grows stranger and more unexpected as Okuzaki becomes more aggressive in his tactics, physically attacking anyone who resists his inquiries. Although fully engaged in the filming process, Hara’s reserved, observational position allows his volatile subject to express his unpopular political position with reckless abandon. 

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