Tengoku to Jigoku (Japanese, High and Low, a.k.a. Heaven and Hell; 1963)
This suspense-filled police procedural film must be well ahead of its time. Because Kurosawa directed it, the suspense and investigations were painstakingly detailed. On top of all that, the director usually highlights the differences in the social classes.
High and low in the title probably denotes the two halves of the offering -the first half in the relaxed ambience of the quiet high-class home of the protagonist, Kingo Gondo, a self-made shoemaker who had climbed the rank and files to an enviable status in the National Shoe Company; the second half among the decadent life forms of the night, drug addicts and drunken revellers of the night scene of town.
Gondo shoots down the idea by fellow company shareowners to cut costs and compromise the quality of their shoes. He passionately says that shoes have to be respected as they support the whole body's weight. Furious, his detractors storm out, vowing vengeance. Secretly, Gondo had mortgaged his entire life savings to take over the company.
Almost immediately after their exit, Gondo receives a phone call that his only preteen son has been kidnapped. Even though the ransom demanded is exorbitant by any standards, he decides to pay it off with the money that was supposed to be used for business, basically making him a pauper all over again - just like it was when he started working years ago!
Just then, his son walks in. Apparently, the kidnappers had taken Gondo's chauffeur's son by mistake. The caller calls in to insist that the ransom money is still the same and has to be paid. Then, the dilemma comes. Is he still going to pay? If before, Gondo refused to call the police on the kidnapper's insistence, he immediately did that. A soul-searching moment happens. Should he give up all his savings to act as a human or give up all that he worked for all his life? His wife cannot understand as she was born with a silver spoon and had it good all her life.
What follows next is an ingenious cat-and-mouse story of rescuing the child, paying the ransom and the speeding electric train done professionally, belying the fact that it was made in 1963. The boy is saved, but the culprit gets the cash.
The second half of the film, a bit draggy, focuses on police investigative procedures comparable to Frittz Lang's 1931 'M'. From the comforts of the highly perched Gondos' air-conditioned villa, the scene shifts to the low level lifeforms of drug addicts, decadent midnight party revelers, back alleys and drug dens. The kidnapper is finally apprehended. He turned out to be a medical student who did it just because he felt that life was not fair as he gazed at Gondo's aesthetically pleasing bungalow from the slum of a house that he called home.
It is a gripping film that only a maestro like Kurosawa can do. It is not the typical cop-robber-rescue scenario. The story builds up gradually to highlight why certain things can be done the way they are. Gondo, who appears like a rash businessman, has a human side. His deeds go beyond the boardroom. His passion for the art of shoemaking, his concern for his subordinates, and his humility in not forgetting the roots at the time of his apprenticeship are told gradually without being preachy or over-glorifying.
I have a funny feeling that the 'low' that is mentioned in the title could also refer to the foreign culture that is creeping into the city, as evidenced by the inclusion of many multi-ethnic extras in the drunken bar and dance club scenes.
Pssst., our GLCs and DaddyKasi's can learn a thing or two about how to build up a business or a career - through hard work, diligence and hard work, not just on paper and with subsidy!
Director: Akira Kurosawa
This suspense-filled police procedural film must be well ahead of its time. Because Kurosawa directed it, the suspense and investigations were painstakingly detailed. On top of all that, the director usually highlights the differences in the social classes.
High and low in the title probably denotes the two halves of the offering -the first half in the relaxed ambience of the quiet high-class home of the protagonist, Kingo Gondo, a self-made shoemaker who had climbed the rank and files to an enviable status in the National Shoe Company; the second half among the decadent life forms of the night, drug addicts and drunken revellers of the night scene of town.
Gondo shoots down the idea by fellow company shareowners to cut costs and compromise the quality of their shoes. He passionately says that shoes have to be respected as they support the whole body's weight. Furious, his detractors storm out, vowing vengeance. Secretly, Gondo had mortgaged his entire life savings to take over the company.
Almost immediately after their exit, Gondo receives a phone call that his only preteen son has been kidnapped. Even though the ransom demanded is exorbitant by any standards, he decides to pay it off with the money that was supposed to be used for business, basically making him a pauper all over again - just like it was when he started working years ago!
Just then, his son walks in. Apparently, the kidnappers had taken Gondo's chauffeur's son by mistake. The caller calls in to insist that the ransom money is still the same and has to be paid. Then, the dilemma comes. Is he still going to pay? If before, Gondo refused to call the police on the kidnapper's insistence, he immediately did that. A soul-searching moment happens. Should he give up all his savings to act as a human or give up all that he worked for all his life? His wife cannot understand as she was born with a silver spoon and had it good all her life.
Gondo relented. He chose the path of humanity.
What follows next is an ingenious cat-and-mouse story of rescuing the child, paying the ransom and the speeding electric train done professionally, belying the fact that it was made in 1963. The boy is saved, but the culprit gets the cash.
The second half of the film, a bit draggy, focuses on police investigative procedures comparable to Frittz Lang's 1931 'M'. From the comforts of the highly perched Gondos' air-conditioned villa, the scene shifts to the low level lifeforms of drug addicts, decadent midnight party revelers, back alleys and drug dens. The kidnapper is finally apprehended. He turned out to be a medical student who did it just because he felt that life was not fair as he gazed at Gondo's aesthetically pleasing bungalow from the slum of a house that he called home.
It is a gripping film that only a maestro like Kurosawa can do. It is not the typical cop-robber-rescue scenario. The story builds up gradually to highlight why certain things can be done the way they are. Gondo, who appears like a rash businessman, has a human side. His deeds go beyond the boardroom. His passion for the art of shoemaking, his concern for his subordinates, and his humility in not forgetting the roots at the time of his apprenticeship are told gradually without being preachy or over-glorifying.I have a funny feeling that the 'low' that is mentioned in the title could also refer to the foreign culture that is creeping into the city, as evidenced by the inclusion of many multi-ethnic extras in the drunken bar and dance club scenes.
Pssst., our GLCs and DaddyKasi's can learn a thing or two about how to build up a business or a career - through hard work, diligence and hard work, not just on paper and with subsidy!
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