Spy Sorge (2003) User Reviews (5)

Excellent movie about WW-II, communism and espionage

[ivan_melendez · 10/10 · 26 June 2003]

Just before WW-II and while it is developed the world is suffering many changes, between them the imperialist thoughts of Japanese people and the Communist actions taken by the Russians.

One day all of the sudden out in China Hidemi Osaki, a columnist for the Asahi Newspaper in Japan meets with Mr. Johnson (later known as Sorge) they both have something in common, they are very attracted to the ideals of communism and against the imperialist ideals of Japan.

Sorge being a Russian spy finds Osaki very helpful since he has access to all the information regarding the military strategies of Japan. But as the war advances the Japanese menace on Russian territory becomes very dangerous so Sorge is sent to Japan as a German columnist, there he is supposed to meet with other foreigners and a Japanese that is in the side of the American Government.

In Japan Sorge handles to find Osaki and makes a team who tries to prevent the advance of Japanese troops by means of sending information to the allies.

As time goes on, each member of the team finds its own place in the Japanese territory, its a story of love, loyalty, a little bit of action but the most attractive part of the movie is the historical content witch is very very complete.

Historical FIlms and their Context

[gogolc · 10 January 2005]

This film was financed mostly if not completely by a German TV Network and was produced to be aired in more than one showings. Because of this the film seems to be a bit too long when seen in one session. The slow and overly posed acting becomes unnatural, never mind the fastidious obsession about superfluous details to fill the lack of content in many scenes. Visually is gorgeous if you like that kind of nostalgic images of objects and fashions: every body dresses as a designer model.

This historical film is more political in its intentions than historical. It is precisely because it is addressed to a German audience that its anti-communist message over-shadows Dr. Sorge spies exploits, his warning to Stalin that Nazi Germany would attack the Soviet Union on 20 June 1941, that Japan will not attack the Soviet Union in Manchuria but instead will attack Pearl Harbor in November 1941 seems to matter little to director Masahiro Shinoda. One wonders how a German audience may have received this film with the explicit message that the man who contributed to Hitler's military defeat in the East did so because he was a confused idealist.

Akira Kurosawa' s "No Regrets for our Youth" (1946) addressed part of this drama from the Japanese side. Kurosawa's views on idealism are or at least were at the time very different from Shinoda's. But of course we should never forget that history has to be judged in its context and 57 years can blur history in more than one country.

The movie should be interesting for an American audience. Even Miss Agnes Smedly appears in Shanghai and given the fact Miss Smedly is all but almost completely forgotten in America, except as feminist, the film brings a small but essential bit of American idealism to Dr. Richard Sorge's spy ring.

strong passion for 20th century

[liquors · 9/10 · 22 August 2004]

CAUTION SPOILER

On the whole, this movie is very interesting to me. It seems to me that this film reflects the director's strong feeling for history of 20th century. In that sense, this movie has aspects similar to 'The Pianist' by Polanski.

As the previous reviewers of IMDb point out, this movie has many flaws. I have to agree that Japanese actors don't show a good work--especially when they speak English--, that using English instead of German or Russian misses a large part of reality in this film, that too much computer graphics is used, et cetera.

But these flaws never exhaust this movie's details. The viewers should appreciate orchestral music, harmonious muted color-tone, some actors' a bit caricatured action. In addition to these details, the director-writer carefully depicts the political scene in 1930s' Japan, which include Emperor Hirohito and Prime Minister Konoe.

But what I find the most impressive is his treatment of communism. He seems to be trying to let the viewers remember that there was a time when many people, even highly intellectual in their own way, believe in communism. And because of this, the VTRs showing the collapse of Berlin Wall and a statue of Lenin are very moving. I think our hero communists' struggles were worth telling in order to know the historical meaning of the events in late 20th century. 9/10

Good history, bad acting

[jz02 · 16 June 2004]

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.

Main Point of the Film is missed by the Critics.

[Tikki-Bo · 10/10 · 23 August 2006]

Dear Pacific War students,

I lived in Japan from 1963 until 1980 trying to discover why FDR and his administration began committing acts of War against Japan in the mid 1930s at the time of FDR's Great Depression and when Japan was the greatest trading partner of the USA. I began my collection of books on the subject then and continues to this day. This film provides a crucial piece of the puzzle. While in Japan I learned little but upon return with the greater availability of books in English, many out of print, many stripped from library shelves by FDR defenders, many just burned or slandered but all available on the used book market the pieces began to form a picture of the truth behind this unnecessary war.

Sorge was a truly effective genius and tipped the balance. It was the huge Asian Soviet Army equipped and trained for winter warfare that raced back to Moscow and save Stalin from Hitler about 15 miles from Moscow at the very moment that the Pacific Fleet was sinking to the bottom of Pearl Harbor thanks mostly to Roosevelts determination to drag us into a TWO FRONT WAR to get him into the war with Hitler. Why a two front war? FDR was a mad man who knew nothing of fighting wars, and on diplomacy was an intellectual moron. Had FDR's administration not been infiltrated with Communists, the CPUSA in NYC and financed by Hollywood, FDR and our State Department just might have seen into Stalin's Grand Strategy of getting us to protect the back of the USSR by war with Japan. Stalin was clearly the most cleaver of the leaders of the 20 Century. Sorge played a huge and successful part in all this.

Just imagine Japan at War with the USSR, no two front war for the USA, and all our resources going after Hitler, both Naziism and Communism would not have survived WWII, no Communist China, no Kennedy Johnson slaughter in Viet Nam and no Truman war in Korea.