Documentary filmmaker Kazuo Hara tackles serious subjects with serious intent, yet his films are nothing like the commendable-but-dull documentaries so common here.
His best-known film, “The Emperor's Naked Army Marches On” from 1987, focuses on a veteran who fought in New Guinea in World War II and visits his former comrades to extract confessions of war crimes, at times violently. Watching this ticking human time bomb is as riveting as any thriller, but is also revealing about the brutal nature of the war.
Hara uses a similar strategy of focusing on a charismatic, if eccentric, individual to illustrate larger issues in “Reiwa Uprising,” a documentary about the campaign of actor-turned-politician Taro Yamamoto’s Reiwa Shinsengumi party in last year’s general election.