Drunken Angel (Japanese, 1948)Director: Akira Kurosawa
It is a depressing little town with a dirty, swampy pond right in the centre of things. It is a sad time too, post-war Japan. People are sick, life is hard, and cleanliness takes a back seat. People actually dump their refuse into the pond and children play in their muddy waters.
In the midst of all this is a cranky small-time middle-aged doctor, Dr Sanada. He seems to frustrated with life, the system and his patients for their non-compliance. Dr Sanada is disappointed with his life decisions and appears to find solace in the bottle. Times are bad, and booze is hard to come by, so he dilutes his medicinal 100% alcohol into his beverages for a kick! Deep inside, the small-time physician has a keen interest in treating tuberculosis and goes the extra mile to treat his patient to health.
One day, a local thug, Matsunaga, walked into his surgery for a hand-wound after a scuffle. The excellent doctor incidentally found that he was suffering from lung abscess due to tuberculosis. The tough punk gets hostile when told of such a diagnosis, which is bad for his reputation as the leader of the pack.
He refuses treatment, but the good doctor takes it upon himself to pester the defiant Matsunaga to comply.
An intense movie, which may sound preachy at times but exhibits the frustrations of a well-meaning medicine man who faces challenges from the patients who do not value health their as much as he does. Paradoxically, the doctor himself seems to be killing himself with his overindulgence in alcoholic beverages.
In the meantime, the doctor's nurse has a dark past. Her partner had just been released from jail after 4 years of imprisonment for criminal activities. The partner is Okada who finally tracks her down.
Okada slowly takes over Matsunaga's position and also his girl. As the ailing gangster gets more feeble, the hate-love relationship between Matsunaga and the kind doctor becomes more intense.
The story ends in tragedy, but life still goes on in the slum with Dr Sanada get a courtesy visit from an appreciative patient who is cured of her tuberculosis.
An intense movie, which may sound preachy at times but exhibits the frustrations of a well-meaning medicine man who faces challenges from the patients who do not value health their as much as he does. Paradoxically, the doctor himself seems to be killing himself with his overindulgence in alcoholic beverages.
A trivia about this movie. The censors, under supervision of American observers, were strict about depicting poorly about the devastation of the war. Certain scenes like that of burning houses were banned. Somehow, due to short of manpower at the censor's board, the filmmaker still managed to sneak in a specific taboo item without getting snipped off. An interesting catch.
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