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Taiy o Nusunda Otoko
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Wikipedia article
, also known as 'The Man Who Stole the Sun', is a 1979 Japanese political satire spy film, directed by Hasegawa Kazuhiko and written by Leonard Schrader.
Plot
Makoto Kido, a high school science and chemistry teacher, has decided to build his own atomic bomb. Before stealing plutonium isotopes from Tkai Nuclear Power Plant, he is involved in the botched hijack of one of his school's buses during a field trip. Along with a police detective, Yamashita, he is able to overcome the hijacker and is publicly hailed as a hero.
Meanwhile, Makoto is able to extract enough plutonium from his stolen isotopes to create two bombsone genuine, the other containing only enough radioactive material to be detectable, but otherwise a fake. He plants the fake bomb in a public lavatory and phones the police and demands that Yamashita take the case. Since Makoto speaks to the police through a voice scrambler, Yamashita is unaware that Makoto is behind the whole thing.
Makoto manages to extort the government into showing baseball games without cutting away for commercials. Flush with success, he follows a suggestion by a radio personality, nicknamed "Zero", to use the real bomb to extort the government into allowing the Rolling Stones to play in Japan (despite being barred from doing so due to Keith Richards being arrested for narcotics possession). The request is soon granted and the band eventually plays in Tokyo.
As Makoto makes his way to the concert, Yamashita follows him. Makoto pulls out a gun and forces Yamashita to a rooftop, bomb in a package he is carrying. Makoto reveals that he was the extortionist, and gets into a fight with Yamashita. Eventually the two fall from the roof whilst Makoto holds on to the bomb. He is saved by grabbing on to a power line as Yamashita falls to his death. Still in possession of the bomb, Makoto decides to leave. As he walks away, a ticking sound is heard and an explosion is heard.
Cast
* Kenji Sawada as Makoto Kido
* Bunta Sugawara as Inspector Yamashita
* Kimiko Ikegami as Zero Sawai
* Kazuo Kitamura as Tanaka
* Shigeru Kyama as Nakayama
* Kei Sat as Dr. Ichikawa
Themes
Many elements of the film are similar to 'Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb'namely, the satirical treatment of the proliferation of nuclear weapons. The film's specific area of satire is nuclear terrorism, which, as in the previous film, was a subject largely considered unsatirizeable. Several scenes in the film are considered controversial, such as a moment where Makoto uses scraps of plutonium metal to poison people in a public swimming pool. The film had a particular resonance for Japanese audiences; while Japan does use nuclear power, the country has long held against maintaining a nuclear arsenal especially in the aftermath of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Much of the first hour of the film's running time is taken up with a highly technical depiction of Makoto building his homemade nuclear weapon, although key steps in the bomb-making process have apparently been omitted in the name of public safety.
The film won the Tokyo Blue Ribbon Award for Best Film of the Year in 1980, and was a critical and financial success in Japan on its release. It has only been released outside Japan on home video.
In 1986, the American film 'The Manhattan Project' concerned a highly intelligent young man who makes his own atomic weapon.
Awards
Wins
* Best Supporting ActorBunta Sugawara, Japan Academy Prize* Best FilmHochi Film Awards
* Best ActorKenji Sawada, Hochi Film Awards
* Best Japanese DirectorKazuhiko Hasegawa, Kinema Junpo Awards
* Best DirectorKazuhiko Hasegawa, Mainichi Film Award
* Readers' Choice AwardKazuhiko Hasegawa, Mainichi Film Award
* Best Film, Yokohama Film Festival
* Best DirectorKazuhiko Hasegawa, Yokohama Film Festival
Nominations
Japan Academy Prize
* Best Film
* Best ActorKenji Sawada
* Best DirectorKazuhiko Hasegawa
* Best Art DirectionYoshinaga Yokoo
* Best CinematographyTatsuo Suzuki
* Best LightingHideo Kumagai
* Best SoundKenichi Benitani
References
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