personal impression of Hirohito while omitting all references to questions surrounding the Tokyo tribunal regarding the personal responsibility of the emperor as head of the Imperial General Headquarters in relation to Japanese war crimes. That omission results in the imperial conference between the emperor and his council and his meeting with MacArthur, in fact, contain none of the words actually related to imperial interpreter Katsuzō Okumura's transcript. For example, as noted by Okumura, MacArthur praised the emperor's "august virtue" (miitsu). According to The Times, the film has not been widely screened in Japan because of fears of violence from right wing extremists over its portrayal of Hirohito. Reception Critical response The Sun has an approval rating of 93% on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 42 reviews, and an average rating of 8.10/10. The website's critical consensus states, "Certainly not for the impatient, Aleksandr Sokurov's deliberately paced look at Hirohito in the waning days of World War II is both enlightening and admirable in its restraint". It also has a score of 85 out of 100 on Metacritic, based on 12 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". Awards At the 2005 Russian Guild of Film Critics Awards the film was awarded the prizes for Best Film, Best Director (Alexander Sokurov) and Best Music (Andrei Sigle). The Sun won the Golden Apricot at the 2005 Yerevan International Film Festival, Armenia, for Best Feature Film. References External links The Sun at Rotten Tomatoes The Dream Director film review by Daniel Mendelsohn from The New York Review of Books 2005 films 2000s biographical films Films directed by Alexander Sokurov Films set in Japan Pacific War films Cultural depictions of Hirohito Cultural depictions of Douglas MacArthur Japan in non-Japanese culture French World War II films Italian World War II films Russian World War II films Russian historical drama films Swiss World War II films 2000s French films Films set in bunkers