Documentary: Fact or Fiction? | The Emperor’s Naked Army Marches On (1987)

By Ted Barron, Ph.D | Executive Director, DeBartolo Performing Arts Center, November 9, 2022

[About a 1 MIN read]

A radicalized World War II veteran aggressively pursues his former company members to account for atrocities committed during the South Pacific campaign. Kazuo Hara’s intimate yet harrowing portrait of Kenzō Okuzaki pushes the limits of the ethical boundaries between filmmaker and subject.

About the Series
Documentary: Fact or Fiction? examines how nonfiction representation has evolved from early experimentations through the impact of television journalism to the emergence of new media.

Rather than provide a chronological history of documentary, the series will focus on films that raise questions about nonfiction representation and its implications for filmmakers, subjects, and viewers. Issues such as testimony, performance, reflexivity and ethics will be addressed, all of which serve to deepen the complex discourse of cinematic realism.

Series Host: Dr. Ted Barron
Dr. Ted Barron is the Executive Director of the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center and Judd and Mary Lou Leighton Director of the Performing Arts. He teaches courses on global cinema history, documentary film, and German film.