Under the Flag of the Rising Sun (Under the Fluttering Military Flag)

Japanese auteur Kinji Fukasaku examines the trauma of World War II in his home country in the docu-drama UNDER THE FLAG OF THE RISING SUN (GUNKI HATAMEKU MOTONI). Taking his cue from HIROSHIMA, MON AMOUR, Fukasaku combines a fictional drama with documentary segments illustrating and reinforcing the film's central themes. Mrs. Togashi (Sachiko Hidari) had a husband who was court martialed and executed in the final days of World War II, and as a result receives no pension from the government. Many years on, the army will still not tell her the circumstances of his death, so she embarks on an investigation of her own. Conducting interviews with a number of her husband's former comrades, she discovers a RASHOMON-like story of both heroism and villainy, bravery and cowardice. Suggesting that perhaps the truth is lost in the chaos of wartime, UNDER THE FLAG OF THE RISING SUN is a powerful examination of a terrible moment in Japanese history.