BFK | 26.03.2023 | The Emperor's Naked Army Marches On (1987)

Kazuo Hara's deeply unsettling and transgressive documentary follows Kenzo Okuzaki, a 62-year-old WWII veteran on his pursuit of justice. Like many of his compatriots he was conscripted in the Pacific where he witnessed countless deaths and atrocities. War crimes his army commanders and Japan's Emperor Hirohito resist to acknowledge or be held accountable for.  

Unlike other documentaries seeking social justice, Okuzaki's pursuit of truth strains ethical lines and raises critical questions about documentary practice itself. Unimpeded in confrontation, Okuzaki's quest is to humiliate as much as it is to obtain testimony. Violence, lies and subversion are justified whilst the filmmakers themselves remain 'impartial,' and at times, as captive as this film's audience. Laid bare is one of the most intriguing accounts of Japan's involvement in the war, far exceeding the bounds of one's imagination. This is documentary at its most extraordinary.