Tokyo Trial

A documentary about the Tokyo trial after the Second World War. The trial began in 1946 and lasted two and a half years. Japan's wartime leaders were tried; the court was made up of judges from eleven countries. The film is built entirely from archive footage. Court recordings, wartime newsreels and material shot by the allied armies were brought together. The narrative does not stay in the courtroom. The events the charges rest on are shown: occupation, bombardment, the camps and the aftermath of the atomic bomb. Its most striking quality is that it questions the court as well. Some of the judges dissented from the verdict, and that split enters the narrative; what it means for victorious states to try the defeated in a court of their own making is left as an open question. It runs over four and a half hours. The narration is calm and there is little comment; the material moves under its own weight. Kei Satō narrates. Masaki Kobayashi directed. The preparation took years; the team worked in archives in several countries. Who it is for: anyone interested in the history of the war and of law. Who it is not for: an unprepared viewer; some of the footage is very hard, and with the length the film is exhausting.