War shrine film opens in Tokyo amid tight security

0 Comments | AFP, May, 2008

TOKYO (AFP) — A controversial film about a Japanese shrine that honours the nation's war dead opened on Saturday in Tokyo amid tight security, defying threats from nationalists outraged at its content.

The film was screened as police patrolled the entrance of the cinema and were even posted inside auditoriums after threats that protesters would disrupt the event.

The documentary, which received a grant from Japan's government, looks at the controversy surrounding the Yasukuni shrine, which honours 2.5 million war dead -- including convicted war criminals from World War II.

Critics of the film said it stokes anti-Japanese feelings by, for example, superimposing images of emperor Hirohito with atrocities committed by Japanese troops.

"We have been able...