Yasukuni (2007) | controvesial Japanese doc makes American premier last week

A slow-going yet intriguing interview with last living Yasukuni sword craftsman Kariya Naoharu gives way to a nauseatingly shaky hand-held long-take at the war shrine of the same name. Steady processions of groups dressed in war regalia make their way to the memorial to pay tribute to the war heroes enshrined there, which shockingly include class A war criminals, tried at the Tokyo Trials (akin to the Nuremburg Trials) and sentenced to death by hanging. This would include the well-known, like Prime Minister Tojo Hideki, and the more obscure though not less appalling, such as officers Mukai Toshiaki and Noda Tsuyoshi who took part in a well-publicized 100 man beheading contest with these swords en route to what would be known as the Nanking Massacre.

There is plenty of Japanese nationalistic fervor to go around, though being a Chinese production, this is set aside to explore the complaints of various groups engaged in years of active protest, including Korean, Chinese, indigenous Taiwanese, and even Okinawan groups, who each take contention with the Yasukuni Shrine for different reasons. The complexities surrounding these controversies are given ample breathing room, most readily during the parade of rare archival stills that are thankfully left to speak for themselves.

A chilling mention is made about the practice of testing the swords' sharpness by cutting through bamboo wrapped tightly in straw, with the bamboo representing bone. Worse, it is rumored that prisoners had also been used to this effect.

Of course we cannot be without the inclusion of a dumb-ass American, shown waving the stars and stripes at the Japanese monument --supposedly in support of then-PM Koizumi's controversial decision to worship at the shrine-- and does not fail to embarrass at his inability to grasp the impropriety of brandishing such a symbol in such a place. "We will never forget Hiroshima!" someone in the throng yells at him.

The highest grossing documentary of all time in Japan,Yasukuni has garnered controversy for being a critique of one of Japan's most sensitive issues, raising important questions while serving up a larger commentary on the legacy of war.

dir Li Ying
Yasukuni trailer: