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Clip description
Official trial observer US Major Beckett (Terry O’Quinn) arrives on the same plane as the key defendant, Vice-Admiral Baron Takahashi (George Takei). Beckett and the tribunal’s Australian prosecutor, Captain Cooper (Bryan Brown), soon clash.
Curator’s notes
The arrival of the US major, who’s an official observer and therefore meant to be objective, on the same plane as the key Japanese defendant immediately seems odd. As the major soon makes clear, he does indeed have an agenda.
This scene fleshes out one of the film’s main themes: the Australian desire to achieve justice for war crimes versus the American desire to compromise and better serve their postwar interests in the Pacific.
It’s to the scene’s credit that both Captain Cooper and Major Beckett give credible, morally understandable reasons for their positions. Strong drama often pulls the viewer’s sympathies in successively different directions, as happens here.
