Pride

Plot

Few films made in Japan have created such international outrage as Shunya Ito's Pride -- an affectionate biopic on that country's most notorious prime minister, Hideki Tojo, who was hanged in 1948 during the Tokyo trials for war crimes. Funded by renown ultra right-wing investors, this film struck many in China and Korea -- two countries on the receiving end of much of Japanese war crimes -- as close to a deliberate provocation, especially since Japan has yet to officially come clean about such wartime atrocities as the Rape of Nanking or the murderous Unit 731. Instead of the incarnation of evil that U.S. propaganda portrayed him as, Tojo, played by Masahiko Tsugawa, is presented as being a brilliant leader, a passionate nationalist, and a loving family man. His goal was not the subjection of Asia under a Japanese empire, but to cast off the yolk of Western colonialism. American prosecutor Joseph Keenan (Scott Wilson) is seen as shrill, ignorant, and scheming, while Indian judge Radhabinod Pal as the sole dissenting jurist is the film's only non-Japanese hero. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi

Cast

• Masahiko Tsugawa - Gen. Hideki Tojo
• Ayumi Ishida - Katsuko Tojo
• Scott Wilson - Prosecutor Joseph B. Keenan
• Ronny Cox - Justice Sir William Webb
• Suresh Oberoi - Indian Judge

Eiji Okuda - Ichiro Kiyose; Naho Toda - Akiko Shintani; Gitan Otsuru; Anupam Kher

Credit

Shunya Ito - Director, Takeo Araki - Editor, Katsuaki Asano - Executive Producer, Michiru Oshima - Composer (Music Score), Akira Naito - Production Designer, Yudai Kato - Cinematographer, Kanji Nakagawa - Producer, Masao Sato - Producer, Hiroo Matsuda - Screenwriter, Shunya Ito - Screenwriter

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