This is a fascinating, well made four-part miniseries. I watched it on Netflix over four days, but it's so good, I can see how one might want to binge watch it. It reminded me of Twelve Angry Men.
In 1946, eleven Allied Judges were appointed to The International Military Tribunal for the Far East (IMTFE), aka Tokyo Trial or Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal. Their job was to try twenty-eight Japanese leaders for conventional war crimes and crimes against humanity. I didn't know anything about this trial.
The participating countries were: Australia, Canada, China, France, British India, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the Philippines, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Later a twelfth judge from India was added. These dedicated, but very different men, (yep, all men in those days), had legal and moral clashes with regards to how to stay true to the law, remain impartial, and prevent similar atrocities.
This tribunal would form the foundation of how "war as a crime by individuals" would be judged in the future. It had previously existed only part of the Paris Peace Pact of 1928. They ran into a problem with war crimes being ascribed only to a Nation and not to an individual.
There is infighting, cliques, power struggles, and schisms amongst the judges. Pal and Röling are outspoken in their dissent, which created an interesting narrative. Röling is the main protagonist; we get a glimpse into his creative relationship with German pianist Eta Harich-Schneider.
Many of the accused were found guilty, including former Prime Minister Hideki Tojo.
I listed the judges to keep track of them.
- Tim Ahern as Major General Myron C. Cramer (United States)
- Paul Freeman as The Honourable Lord William D. Patrick (United Kingdom)
- Serge Hazanavicius as Henri Bernard (France)
- Marcel Hensema as Professor Bert V.A. Röling (Netherlands)
- Jonathan Hyde as President Sir William Webb (Australia)
- Irrfan Khan as Radhabinod Pal (India)
- Stephen McHattie as Edward Stuart McDougall (Canada)
- David Tse as Mei Ju-ao (China)
- Julian Wadham as Sir Erima H. Northcroft (New Zealand)
- Bert Matias as Colonel Delfín Jaranilla (Philippines)
- Kestutis Stasys Jakstas as Major General I.M. Zaryanov (Soviet Union)
- William Hope as John P. Higgins (United States)
