Spy Sorge (2003)

User Rating:

6.3/10   

Director:

Masahiro Shinoda

Writers:

Robert Mandy (writer)
Masahiro Shinoda (writer)

Release Date:

14 June 2003 (Japan)

Genre:

Action | Thriller | War

Plot Keywords:

Spy

Awards:

1 win & 8 nominations

Cast

Iain Glen	...	Richard Sorge
Masahiro Motoki	...	Hidemi Ozaki
Kippei Shiina	...	Mitsusada Yoshikawa
Takaya Kamikawa	...	Tokko T
Toshiya Nagasawa	...	Miyagi
Riona Hazuki	...	Hanako Miyake
Koyuki	...	Yoshiko Yamazaki
Yui Natsukawa	...	Hideko Ozaki
Takaaki Enoki	...	Duke Fumimaro Konoye
Hideji Otaki	...	Duke Kinmochi Sai-onji
Shima Iwashita	...	Mrs. Konoe
Ulrich Mühe	...	Eugen Ott
Karen Friesicke	...	Helma Ott
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Robert Baldwin
Ralph-Peter Borchert		(as Peter Borchert)
Michael Christian
Georg O.P. Eschert
Alexandra Finder
Catherine H. Flemming		(as Catherine Flemming)
Tomonobu Fukui
Vincent Giry	...	U.S. M.P.
Max Hopp
Lena Lessing
Armin Marewski
Robert Miko		(as Robert Mika)
Yurij Rosstalnyj
Marek Wlodarczyk
Marian Wolf
Jarek Wozniak
Wolfgang S. Zechmayer		(as Wolfgang Zechmayer)

Also Known As:

Richard Sorge - Spion aus Leidenschaft (Germany) (TV title)

Runtime:

Japan:182 min

Country:

Japan | Germany

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Filming Locations:

Berlin, Germany

Company:

Asmik Ace Entertainment

Goofs:

Anachronisms: The U.S. dollar bill is obviously contemporary, featuring the post-1969 design and the signatures of Mary Ellen Withrow and Lawrence H. Summers (Treasurer and Secretary of the Treasury during the Clinton administration).

Soundtrack:

Koukyoukyoku dai5ban 'Simplex'

Good history, bad acting

As the previous reviewer noted, the history is quite interesting. Especially concerning the political intrigues within the Japanese government and the context that lead to things like the 2.26 incident. However the acting in many parts was horrible bad. I don't know if this is because many actors aren't native English speakers so they can't act right when speaking in English or something, but I felt that many parts were just over done and had the feeling that the actors were amateurs. Plus there were way too many pointless scenes mixed in (the still scene of Nijubashi was put in there for countless times). Maybe in a Manga you'd put in those scenes to provide context, but certainly not in film.

Some people might say that this movie white washes Japan's role/behavior in WWII, but I that's not the point of the film. WWII and the 30s were just the backdrop to the story of Sorge and Ozaki, people whose sympathy for the poor had mislead them to risk their own lives and the wellbeing of their families to serve an ultimately futile cause.

The moral I got from this story is, don't give in to temptations to serve some greater cause and throw away the truly important things in life like love and family. Richard Sorge wanted to change the world, all he managed to accomplish was to ruin himself and the lives of the women who loved him, along with Ozaki who trusted him.

Personally I felt really bad for Katya, Hanako, Yoshiko, and Mrs. Ozaki. They really didn't deserve it.