One who lives by the sword, dies by one!

Chekka Chivantha Vaanam (Tamil, 2018)

This film is supposed to have elements of Akira Kurosawa's 'Ran' in its storyline. And Kurosawa's 'Ran' is supposed to have similarities to King Lear. Unfortunately, the similarities end at the level of a man of power and the power struggle between his three sons over his ruling empire. Here, the struggle is for the position of 'Don' between three sons. Each suspects each other of sabotage and try to outdo each other with wit and the might of gunpowder. Unfortunately, at the end of the day, after much killing, the sufferings of their loved ones, the death of the few and the double-crossing of their most trusted ones, the thugs realise that one who lives by the gun dies by one. 

Not much of a film. Just another movie that depicts India as a land of lawlessness with a corrupt police force where everything and everyone has a price. Sadly, they try to sell the idea that even the immigration is under the thumb of thugs! 

Not worth spending your precious Sunday afternoon watching this. Spend it in something more worthwhile; forget trying to promote Tamil culture to the diaspora. There are other ways of doing this.

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At the lower end of the heap

Dodes'ka-den (Japanese; 1970)
Director: Akira Kurosawa

Even the great director Kurosawa had his moments when he was slumped. His popularity was on the decline as TV became more popular. More than 5 years after his last film, Red Beard in 1964, he had nothing to show. His relationship with his prized actor and composer was down. To top it all, even this film was a financial flop. The general masses did not care if it was artistically brilliant, they just wanted entertainment and fun; not a film which takes place in a city dumpster! It seems Kurosawa's chips were so low after this movie that he attempted to end his own life afterwards.

Make believe tram driver!

The whole lay out of the film is somewhat unconventional. There is no protagonist, antagonist or a typical story with issues, climax and resolution. It is actually a compilation of occurrences in the day of the life a group of social discards who put up in the city dump as their place of abode. Their pessimistic outlook of life and their lack of will to improve themselves seem to the driving factor that seem to put them stay put amongst the garbage pile and remain as discards of society.

Building castles in the air?

The title of the film refers to the sound made by a mental subnormal boy who is fascinated with trams and thinks that he is driver of one. Day in and day out he struts across the dump driving his imaginary tram chanting "dodes'ka-den, dodes'ka-den" mimicking the sound of a moving train. The child's mother accepts the fate befallen upon his son. She keeps on chanting her Buddhist mantras hoping that one day her son will be alright.

Dead man walking?

Life intoxicated

Other characters in the story include - a catatonic and expressionless man living in isolation oblivious to the stimulus around him; a selfish mother who does not believe in birth control - she is more interested in feeding herself in front of her drooling children with the excuse she has to ensure that her unborn is strong enough to fend for himself when he is born; 2 perpetually drunk labourers and their wives who frequently swap wives and swap houses, and life goes on effortlessly;

At the water faucet

a young girl is made to work day and night making plastic flowers to earn meagre income to finance her lazy uncle's drinking habit - he is too weak to work but not weak enough to sexually assault her when her auntie is hospitalised; this girl has her love interest, the pedlar who supplies liquor to her uncle. Then the is a vagabond father and son who use a disused car as the castle but has big imaginary plans of building a big bungalow with steel gates. Their imaginations make them contented with their present life. There is also a short tale of a office manager who invites his a home where his wife shows her displeasure to their presence and the guests cannot understand his meekness.

Central to the narration is the water faucet where ladies gather to gossip about happening the dump as if it is world news!

The film is a portrayal of characterisation in a film. There is no melodrama or over-exaggeration of hopelessness even though the viewers can obviously see the future of the characters is bleak.

Orphan with love interest

 Eating for the unborn!

Ten years down the line, they would still be where they are. The drive for change should arise from within. It looks as if, for the characters, even though life had smack them hard to the dumps, they are either too detached from reality or have given up to come back to mainstream. Amongst us we see many in the same boat.

The question is whether it is the duty of the able bodied to provide for them as, in a society, there would always be those who lose out and cannot keep us with the general pace. Or... we should provide them indirectly like the Chinese proverb which talked about giving a fish and teaching to fish?

Farewell swansong...

Madadayo (まあだだよ Not Yet, Japanese; 1993)
Director: Akira Kurosawa

This sombre offering is Kurosawa's swan song. Ironically, it is a comedy but the subject deals something as depressing as life after retirement, war and essentially waiting for death! If fact, the title of film is a joke often told the main character referring to his life whose time (end of it) has reached yet - not yet!

Professor Uchida (whom his students address fondly as Sinsei) is a lovable German language professor in Japan who is at the tail end of his teaching career. It is set at a time just before the second World War. After his retirement, he continues entertaining his students at his humble home sharing his own trademark jokes. The students, even after growing old continue his acquaintance. Periodically, he gather for his birthday. They even help him out when his home is raged by shell after the war.

The movie shows the cordial respect between teacher and student. Just when the student think their teacher would kick the bucket, the elder would jocularly reply, "Madayo!" - not yet.

This Kurosawa offering may not be in the same league as many of his doyens, nevertheless, it showcases the class act of a master director who could send the subtle message that all is not lost when you are old and less productive. Life is not over till it is over and life is meant to savoured, every drop of it.

The million dollar question is what is enjoying life? Is it meant to be a time to party like there is no tomorrow as they say you only live once (YOLO)? Or is it is an opportune time to immerse oneself in prayers and charity work to wash the sins of your current or previous lives so as to cajole the forces of Universe to springboard your soul up the ladder of karma or assure a 'free pass' past the purgatory?

Trust and Conviction?

The Quiet Duel (静かなる決闘, Shizukanaru Kettō, 1949)
Director: Akira Kurosawa

Fancy seeing a scrubbed up surgeon
with a cigarette on his lip?

If Toshiro Mifune is usually seen as rash hotblooded gangster or samurai in most movies, this Kurosawa's regular star is seen portraying a quiet tight-lipped conscientious doctor. His co-star is another regular, Takashi Shimura as his father.

The quiet duel in the title refers to the constant struggle within one's self whether to satisfy his own desires versus the moral codes set up by the society or conscience. And sometimes the price to pay can be enormous. 

The story starts in a rundown military hole-ridden leaking hospital where an overworked sleep-deprived surgeon who is fighting against his biological needs of sleep and rest tries desperately to save his war-stricken patients. With limited helping hand, he somehow pulls through. In one of these stressful situations, he injures himself with an open scalpel.
Fearing for the worse, he gets himself and the patient's blood tested for syphilis.
Apparently, syphilis was reputed as a death sentence then. When young men with raging hormones were left wondering away in stressful situations, these soldiers were expected to patronise comfort women for conjugal pleasures.
The blood tests returned as favourable to a truly devasted Dr Kyoji Fujisaki (Toshiro Mifune). His fate was sealed. Treatment was protracted and not readily available. His plans to wed his sweetheart all came crashing down.

Doing good does not make you
immune from misery!

Fast forward...post-war Japan...
Dr Kyoji is still working as a dedicated doctor, now in a rural small private hospital run by his father, a gynaecologist, Dr Konosuke Fujisaki (the versatile Takashi Shimura) and himself. His sweetheart still hangs around the hospital as an assistant nurse hoping that Dr Kyoji would change his mind to marry her. The good doctor, fearing of spreading the disease to his future and child had decided to be celibate until the condition is hopefully adequately treated in a few years' time. As her biological clock was ticking away, he advised her to marry someone else without telling her the real reason. A simple answer like 'the war had changed him', he thought would suffice.

Do the stars determine your fate?

Maybe, at this time and age, with women's empowerment and such, such a statement may not be politically correct. But then, we have to understand the social contract in that era where the society was patriarchal and women docile (or is it woman like?).
Pretty soon when the medicine used to treat syphilis repeatedly went missing, the doctor's little secret comes to the knowledge of his father and another assistant nurse. After learning the real manner how he was infected, they only give him the utmost respect. The assistant nurse has her own issue of being an unwed mother as a result of her stint as a nightclub dancer in her previous vocation. She is indebted to Dr Kyoji for giving her a new lease on life when she had attempted suicide when she was pregnant and abandoned.
As fate had it, the initial patient (Nakada) who had transmitted the disease to Dr Kyoji is met by chance in the course of his work. Unlike Kyoji who is living in constant fear and sorrow, the patient is entirely indifferent to his disease. He is enjoying his life, drinking, is married and his wife is pregnant. Dr Kyoji tries to warn Nakada, but it is met with resistance.
Eventually, Nakada and his wife land up at their hospital with a deformed stillbirth. Upon seeing this, Nakada becomes insane, unsure whether it is insanity or progression of syphilis.
Dr Kyoji's ex-sweetheart comes to the clinic for the last time before her marriage to say her farewell hoping for a last minute change of hearts on the part of the good doctor. He just sends her away without revealing the real reason.

The final farewell

After her departure, Kyoji's nurse confronts him on his course of action. That erupts the monologue that defines the title of the movie - the quiet duel! The duel within oneself of the correct decision one has to do if life. A person who thinks and is emphatic to others would practice self-sacrifice for others. A lackadaisical would literally bury his head in the ground and hope for the trouble to just disappear. It is akin to the two ways one can encounter physical pain - create a ruckus or grimace in silence. Kyoji narrates the battles that he had to endure between fulfilling his physical needs as a man versus the moral obligations of a doctor to thwart the spread of the disease. It’s an extended, tearful scene where Mifune fully reveals the depths of his feelings and his battles. This scene is something new for the oft tough appearing star!
We all encounter constant duels within ourselves to do what is only natural for our immediate gratifications against what is better in the long term, good from the perspective of a bigger picture. We take the first step in making that painful decision to do what we do on every Sunday morning hoping that it is a right decision that we would not live t regret later. It is all just trust. That's all. Trust that we are doing the right thing.

Go onto your dreams!

One Wonderful Sunday (Japanese, 1947)

The theme in this movie is somewhat similar to that of Kurosawa's 'Stray Dog'. Set in the post WW2 Japan where poverty is the order of a day, it narrates a day a couple who have big dreams for their future together spend a Sunday together, the only day they meet in a week before they head different directions at the end of the day for their respective job requirements.

It is an extremely slow moving movie but the pace is essential to aptly portray the trying times of the war ravaged country. People are generally poor. The only short cut way to quick success is black marketeering. The law abiding conscientious ones had to slog it out with their measly paying jobs.
Isao Numasaki, a disillusioned war veteran, is an obvious victim of PTSD. He has no faith in humanity, is frustrated with the system and has no desire in life. His fiancé and childhood girlfriend, Chieko Nakakita, seem to be the only good thing that is happening in his life. But even thinking of their future together makes our hero morose. That is where his ever smiley fresh faced fiancé comes in. She goes at great length to cheer him up.
With limited cash at their disposal (35yen) , the couple try to maximise their time together. Even in dire straits, there is nothing wrong to dream the wildest dream, Cheiko reassures a gloom filled hero. "Dreams don't fill the stomach" he replies.
I think he feels that he does not get the respect that he should be accorded. After all he defended the country!
They visit a show house even though they cannot afford it. And Cheiko fantasises the home arrangements. Isao then indulges in a baseball game with the lads by the street. Again, they try to forget their gloom by getting a cheap ticket to the symphony orchestra. Unfortunately, their hopes were dashed by the black market ticket sellers who bought all the tickets and inflated their price, which was unaffordable to our couple.
Frustrated, they wonder around. Isao managed to convince Cheiko to drop in at his leaky depilated rented room with private intentions on his mind. The timid Cheiko, however, is hesitant.
They have an intervention on their deepest worries.
At the climax of the movie, they act out as conductors of a symphonic orchestra in an abandoned amphitheatre.
In the end, they realise that having a dream is useful. It gives them purpose in life. There is a goal upon which they can put their energy and effort into to unshackle themselves from the rut of poverty and hopelessness.
There are many political innuendos in the film. The snobbishness of the upper classes, the swipe at the leaders, a sneer at our social system, the Westernisation of Japan, inclusion of American culture is all out in the open for our consumption. Unlike, Thulabaram and many of the Tamil movies that overdramatise and depict a negative picture of poverty, here the maker shows dignity in being poor and that hope is all there. Anyway, he tells us to make the best of what is available in the present time.

They say you are the oddball!

Ikimono no kiroku (I Live In Fear,  生きものの記録, aka Record of a Living Being or What the Birds Know, Japanese; 1955)

Director: Akira Kurosawa

You work hard all through your life, earning for your family, ensuring that they do not lose out on you did not have. You want there to be no obstacles along the way so that they can explore their own true potential. You secretly hope that they would scale heights which were unattainable by you in your lifetime. You play your part to the tilt hoping that they would do theirs.

What you get instead is the title of being a workaholic madman who cannot keep still and let the younger generation take charge! Your other half who used to be the better one, decide to take sides and you can see all your life's hard work crumbling right in front of you. The world is not on your side, and all the accusing finger is pointing at you, only you. And you know they are so wrong. So, what do you do? They use the same knowledge that you try to impart on to them against you, chucking you into the looney bin.

This message, together with Kurosawa's favourite of Atomic Bomb devastation form the crux of this film which is a somewhat not so popular offering. It, however, made its way to the 1956 Cannes Film Festival. 

Dr Harada (acted by one of Kurosawa's regular actors, Takashi Shimora) is a dentist who does part-time arbitrating family issues at a local court. He feels personally involved in a recent family feud of a wealthy foundry owner.

Kiichi Nagajima (Toshiro Mifune, another of Kurosawa's favourite) is accused by his family as being mentally incapacitated. Kiichi has the irrevocable fear that the A-bomb would hit anytime as it did before and he wants to sell off his whole property, lock, stock and barrel and migrate to Brazil, with his wife, mistresses and children.

The family thinks that he is over-reacting and vehemently disagree with his crazy plan to start life anew in Sao Paolo. Actually, everyone, his children, children-in-law and mistresses are only interested in his money. They want to inherit his fortune. They worry that Kiichi may use up all the money, leaving nothing for them to spend.

Kiichi is actually a kind-hearted man who cares for all his dependants and his subordinates too. He is usually rash and abrupt in his speech. His unshakeable belief that the atomic catastrophe would repeat itself pushes the court's decision against his favour. He is deemed mentally incompetent even though his mind is crystal clear.

In a fit of rage, he burns down the foundry that everyone has laid their eyes on. Little did he realise that is action would hit his workers badly. Kiichi is slowly drawn into psychosis. He thinks he is on another planet, away from Earth which he imagines having self-destructed!
Dr Harada visits him in the psychiatric ward. He feels partially responsible for his state. He understands that Kiichi may be right after all. We are living in a world full of insanity around us. Perhaps, Kiichi is the sane one who managed to shield himself from the ludicracy of the world around him.

Your hard earned money and others decide how it should be spent.

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Money rules

The Bad Sleep Well (Warui yatsu hodo yoku nemuru, Japanese; 1960)
Director: Akira Kurosawa

Films are made day in and day out but a classics like Kurosawa's stays eternally in the minds of film lovers. This is another movie highlighting the evils that corporations do to syphon off public funds for their own interest but what makes it an evergreen is the depth of the plot. It is supposed to have elements of Shakespeare's Hamlet in its narrative.

The movie starts with journalists waiting patiently passing sarcastic remarks of a wealthy tycoon, the Vice President of a public listed company which develops public land, daughter's wedding reception. They are hoping to pick up a scoop to report. Their moment of truth comes when one of his assistants get arrested for corruption during the reception through some embarrassing moments for the guests.

The story gets very complicated but becomes crystal clear at the end. Nishi (Toshiro Mifune), a dashing young man who is the Vice President's secretary, is sniggered for marrying the crippled daughter, Yoshiko. They accuse him of marrying for money. Another embarrassing moment happens when a cake is ushered in announced in the shape of a building where one of the directors, Furuya, is said to have jumped off!

The plot thickens when suspects associated with corruption case and money goes missing. And apparitions of dead people start manifesting.

You see, Nishi is Furuya's illegitimate son who is out to avenge his father's death by exposing the corrupt practices to the authorities. He marries into the family incognito to this end. Part of the story involves the soliloquy of his wanderings about playing with the heart of the innocent like Yoshiko. He realises that he is slowly falling in love with his wife even though his sole intention initially was revenge.

At the end of the day, Nishi's slick manoeuvres are discovered by his father in law. An automobile accident is staged to kill off Nishi, leaving Yoshiko to lose her mind! In spite of all these, the Vice President continues on with his money making mission without batting an eyelid.

The film tries to highlight the feudalistic mindset that prevailed in Japan at the time of the movie was made. It showcases the extent people would go to show their loyalty to their paymasters. Truth and justice take a back seat, and money shows its muscle. Hey, 50 years on, the exact thing is happening in Malaysia. People do not know what constitutes being faithful to the nation and what is being a racist!

Wartime sensitivities?

Sanshiro Sugata ( (姿三四郎, aka Judo Saga; 1943)
Director: Akira Kurosawa

Japan was at the pinnacle of spreading the influence of The Land of the Rising Sun over its Eastern and South East Asian minions. Back home it was business as usual, art and culture wise. Movies were still made and Kurosawa made his directorial debut through this movie. To keep to the wartime sensitivities of the nation, the censors slashed 1845 feet (17 minutes) of the film footage prior to screening without the consent of the producers.
This debut effort shows unique characteristic camera work of Kurosawa.
The story is simple. A rogue but talented street fighter, Sanshiro Sugata, tries to learn martial arts from a master who refuses. First, he has to learn humility and discipline.
He transforms into a conscientious and respected Judo fighter.
A shady character appears to challenge him to a square fight but his master denies that. The fight eventually happens at the end. Before that he has fight other great jujitsu proponents. In the process Sugata falls in love with a demure girl whose father coincidentally happens to his challenger. His dilemma is that the duel is to last to to death and the girl seem to be endlessly in deep prayers invoking the Gods to the safety of her father, the great respected jujitsu exponent!
The fight ends amicably with Sugata winning and gaining the respect of the elder and his girl.
The final showdown shows the reluctant Sugato winning the encounter with the stranger and maturing into fine man.
This film does not stand out together with Kurosawa's other great efforts. Anyway, I am a lover of peace, not a fighter.
Wartime sensitivities? What is that? I thought man lose all his senses, sensibilities and sensitivities before he finally plunges into the bottomless quick sand of war!

Press freedom versus privacy!

Shubun (Scandal, Japanese; 1950)
Director: Akira Kurosawa

The theme of this movie is still relevant today. The talk of the need for the public to know everything versus the space for citizens and people in authority to safeguard their secrecy is an ongoing debate. Where the line should be drawn on the Truth is anybody's guess. With the recent leakage of supposedly private intimate poses of celebrities to the media is proof of this ongoing debate on this debacle. The boundary of what is indeed trash and what is news is progressively blurred as the public gets all excited with trivial unimportant happenings or smut that happens to people in the limelight or are the people in the press simply sensationalizing these trivial non events?
Again, Kurosawa had chosen a modern looking post war Japan with a Western outlook. People are dressed in Western clothes, jackets, pants and dresses and the ladies were donning cropped modern hairstyles. The recreational activities mirror their Western counterpart. Instead of horses at the races, in this movie, cyclists were the racers!
The legal system is also Western in outlook. With modernisation come the scourge of modern living, journalists.
Even back in the 50s, pressmen had become a nuisance to modern living especially amongst the rich and famous. This, is the basis of this movie.
After seeing Toshirō Mifune (a Kurosawa regular) in mostly stern and serious roles, here he is seen as a happy smiling free wheeling artist, Ichiro Aoye, motorcycling by the countryside painting natural landscapes. During one of these trips, he gives a ride to a famous singer, Miyaso Saijo, unknown to him at that time, after she misses her bus and was heading to the same inn as himself.  Miyaso, a shy artiste, was moving around incognito but was identified by a tabloid reporter. As she was sipping tea in Aoye's room dressed casually in kimono, they were secretly photographed. And the tabloid has a field day promoting a non-existent secret love affair of the singing star. Suddenly, the general public recognises both of them everywhere. They are both everybody's darlings. The paper is also happy, laughing all the way to the bank with their sudden increase in circulation.
Aoye is not amused, however. He intends to sue the tabloid for invasion of privacy. Ms Saijo later joins in.

Comes in attorney, Hiruta, a failed lawyer who had lost the rat race in the dog-eat-dog world of lawyers offering his services to represent Aoye. The role of Hiruta is played by Takashi Shimura, another regular feature of Kurosawa's movies. Unlike his previous outings where he is docile and reserved, Shimura is a fast talking lawyer, at least initially. He has a heavy sorrow of a burden that he carries on his back. He has a very sick TB infected daughter at home and an unquenchable addiction for the races. He feels inadequate both as a father and a lawyer.
The publishers, fearing that they may lose money at court, entice Hiruta by sponsoring him at the races and bribing him.
As the case progresses, Hiruto's throwing of his case become apparent to everyone. His clients, however, still gives him a chance as they get closer to Hiruto's charming but ill daughter. This further depresses Hiruto who is caught in a bind - he is cheating his clients blind even though they go all out to cheer and fete his terminally ill child!
Along the course of the trial where the tabloid's defence attorney, a prominent law figure from the university, has a field day, Hiruto's daughter succumbed to her illness.
At the crucial moment, during submission, Hiruto makes clear to the court of the defence's treacherous attempts at bribing him and turns the case around in his clients' favour.
A nice feel good movie which tries very hard to show the goodness in every individual. Just like the 1946 Christmas movie 'It's a wonderful life' the formula of using the songs 'Silent Night' and 'Auld Lang Syne' seem to work wonders to highlight this point.
In embracing the cultures of their captors, even the Japanese have these songs sang in their own lingo. They don't go around complaining that they have been wronged by a world conspiracy to outsmart their success and bring down their culture.In the 70s many rock bands like 'Cheap Trick' were pleasantly surprised when they performed live in Budokan. Their fans in this non-English speaking land could sing every verse of their songs word to word!

Humanised cop drama

Tengoku to Jigoku (Japanese, High and Low, a.k.a. Heaven and Hell; 1963)

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!

... true path of the profession?

Red Beard (赤ひげ Akahige, Japanese; 1965)
Director: Akira Kurosawa

The message in this 1965 film is as relevant today as it was 50 years ago. It explores humanity, our existence and the true path of how the practice of medicine should be. It tries to drive the point that people involved in this noble profession should be socialist at heart and capitalism may be their enemy. That poverty and ignorance is the real reason why people remain sick and become ill because medical service desert the very people who logically need more attention. Every individual who appears helpless and unimpressive at the end of his life may actually have a heart wrenching tale associated with his life. There may be a string of mourners or well wishers crying behind him or they may carry a secret to their grave. If we understand the dynamics of the life of an individual, we would understand why he is acting the way he is acting.

This 3 hour movie is set in the early 19th century Japan where modern medicine was slowly creeping into Shogun Japan.
A cocky young Dutch-medicine trained doctor, Yasumoto, is tricked to work at a rundown village hospital for the poor which is perennially short of hands and supplies. It is headed by a dedicated chief doctor Niide nicknamed 'Red Beard' for the colour of his beard. The haughty young doctor refuse to partake in any of their activities or don their uniform. He was hoping that his services would be terminated and be sent off back to city where he plans to work as a doctor treating the rich and famous members of the Shogunate. That was where the money was and he wanted to enjoy the fruit of his hard work.

Dr Yasumoto, slowly realises the real meaning of practicing medicine through the patients that he is exposed to. A rich gold leaf painter in his death bed like an orphan. Yasumoto is assigned to accompany him in his last moments which is supposed to be most solemn.

Then there was a philanthropist who is liked by everyone and has a dark secret. He reveals on his death bed the death of wife who jilted him.

During Dr Niide's tour of duty treating patients in the village, he rescues a 12 year old child from a brothel. She is emotionally disturbed by her ordeal. She is taken in to the hospital and she becomes an important pillar for Dr Yasumoto's acceptance of the concept of medicine for the masses.

In a secluded hut near the hospital also housed is a mysterious lady who has the reputation of hurting her lovers.

A subplot involves a small boy who steals from the hospital kitchen to feed his ailing family. He finds it more convenient to steal than to beg for alms. At a sad moment, his misdemeanour is discovered and his family attempts suicide. The boy is saved.
After all the events that happened, Dr Yasumoto realises that he is much needed in this tiny hospital for the poor than the rich. He follows the path of Dr Niide.
This feel good movie is a good wake up call for all those in the medical profession. With all the increasing pressures from the growing capitalistic demands, practitioners tend to go astray from their intended intention to serve the sick and needy.

The take home lesson from this movie is that the world can be a cruel one. We cannot singlehandedly change all this it our lifetime. At the same time, we cannot just lift our hand in surrender. Every little small thing that we do may actually alter the course of someone's life. That little thing that we do may indeed make this place a better place to live in. It is a timely reminder that medicine is a great deal more than an avenue into a fashionable career of attending parties of the rich of famous, looking pretty and donning the pages of the 'Tatler'!

The violent past

Throne of Blood (蜘蛛巣城 Kumonosu-jô, Spider's Web Castle, 1957; Japanese)
Written and Direction by: Akira Kurusawa

Since I have not been lucky enough to endowed in an environment splashed with culture and art, nevertheless, I try to educate and enrich the right side of the brain through the back door.
Instead of reading and digesting the moth filled papyrus scrolls, I choose to watch movies instead.
Through my latest escapade, I managed to venture into Shakespeare's darkest tragedy, Macbeth. This, I discovered about watching Kurosawa's 1957 offering of 'Kumonosu-jo', which is quite closely based on the former. The story is set in the 16th century feudal Japan, a tumultuous and violent times indeed.
Washizu and Miki are victorious generals returning to meet their Lord in Spider's Web Castle through a fog filled forests only to be lost and to come face to face with a spirit. Unprovoked, the spirit foretold their futures, that Washiku would be a Commander and subsequently the Lord of Spider's Web Castle and that Miki be a Commander of another fort, a short life but his son would be the Lord of the Castle! They laughed it off only to realise that the first prediction came through.
Washizu confesses the event to his wife, Asaji. Asaji proved to be the evil one, masterminding all of Washizu's subsequent moves. Washizu, in spite of his masculine prowess, seem powerless in front of his wife. The conniving wife prods him further and further to kill and con his way to ensure that the prophecy of the spirit actually materialises.
Washizu actually wants to name Miki's child as his successor after he becomes the Lord of the Spider's Web Castle, after killing the present, no thanks to Asaji's impish plans. But then Asaji becomes pregnant, shelving the plan. The pregnancy ends up as a stillbirth and Asaji has post partum depression.
The carnage goes on. Even Miki is killed on Washizu's orders. The guilt of Wishizu takes its toll on Asaji. Even Washizu's man mutinied against him and shot him down when the castle was attacked by enemies.
The whole show is acted in the traditional Japanese drama style called Noh where actors do not show much emotion but wear a pale face. It only further adds on to the hopeless and melancholic life that feudal society is leading.
The philosophical look in history shows that every civilisation goes on to the next level through violence either through nature's wrath - clash of asteroid, volcanic eruption, earthquake or global warming; or through wrath of men himself (war, fire, famine). Fear of the unknown or paranoia of malady is a strong stimulus for man to plan for his future. At the same time, spreading the fear of a life beyond the realm of conscious mind is another way to rein them to behave in a kind fashion to each other and hopefully peace can reign and the weak can survive.
Is our fate decided or do we decide our fate?
In 'Macbeth' and 'Throne of Blood', the prophecy of witches/spirit comes true. It can argued that the first prediction was due to materialise anyway as they were returning victoriously from they were supposed to do. Just because the first prediction came through, they is a human desire (greed) to make the subsequent predictions to materialise. Sometimes our actions are geared to make it a reality!

You can't win 'em all!

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.

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.

One side of the story!

Rhapsody in August (Japanese, 1991)
Writer & Director: Akira Kurosawa
This film depicts how three generations handle the WW2 bombing of Nagasaki.
Grandma is babysitting her 4 grandchildren while their parents go over to Hawaii to visit Grandma's long lost brother who had migrated to US in the 1920s. He is now in his death bed but had established himself as a successful pineapple planter. The grandchildren and their parents are coaxing old lady to visit her brother but she is reluctant. She cannot remember her brother as she had 11 of them and everyone went their own way.
Grandma is a hibakusha (survivor of atomic bombing). She lives in memory of her husband, a teacher, who perished in the 1945 Nagasaki bombing while he was at work.
The grandchildren, bored with the slow paced life in the village, explore around to slowly appreciate the times of the war. They also understand how the bomb had devastated the lives of innocent dwellers of the city.
The 45th anniversary of her husband is around the corner and she wishes to celebrate it.
She eventually agrees to visit Hawaii.
Grandma's nephew (the brother had married an American white), Clark (Richard Gere), comes to visit Grandma after correspondence with the children about Grandpa's demise and the anniversary.

With a handshake, the past is forgotten?

The visit is awkward to Grandma's children and grandchildren- An American visiting a land whom his people bombed and attending a function where people are still sore about. Anyway, it all goes well. Clark apologises and Grandma comes to term about the bombing.
During its screening in Cannes, the film was criticised for portraying the Japanese as the poor victims of the American atrocities whilst ignoring all its aggression in China, South East Asia and the Pacific. To its critiques, Kurosawa replied that the war was between Governments but the victims were the people. It is mind boggling that common people become enemies trying to defend a piece of cloth and a common camaraderie because their leaders told them so. Various indoctrination manoeuvres stir up that intangible feeling called nationalism which proves thicker than blood and common sense too!

The exact moment 'Fat Man' hit Nagasaki from B52 bomber 'Bockscar'

Fat Man

N.B. Viewers are referred to movies 'Letters from Iwo Jima' and 'Flags of Our Fathers' to have two perspectives of the same war; one from the American viewpoint and the other Japanese, on the same war!

Loss of touch with Mother Nature

Dersu Uzala (Russian, 1975)
Director: Akira Kurusawa

First there was darkness, then there was light. This alternating of night and day was instrumental in developing many of man's inner and outer equilibrium. Internally, the diurnal circadian rhythm was achieved. Pineal gland owed its maturity upon it. Man learnt to live in symbiosis with the elements of nature by learning simple things about them. The wind, moisture, heat, stars, moon and sun were their guides. Then came the ability to produce light at their will. Suddenly, man found that they did not have depend on nature to move around. Slowly their closeness to nature grew far apart.
This Oscar winner is a poignant Japo-Russian venture that highlights a unique friendship between a Russian military surveyor and a Goldi nomadic hunter. The Goldis, or Nanai people as they are known now, have their ancestors in Manchuria.

Nanai family, Amur region of Russia

Captain Arseniev and his men meet up an amusing looking man as they survey the Far East region of Russia. The man introduces himself as Dersu Uzula, a hunter who roams the jungle for kills. They decide to take him in to help in their expedition and surveying. Not taking him too seriously on his proclaim knowledge of the forest, they were awed and pleasantly surprised with his uncanny ability to deduce things from simple observations. Looking at a track on the ground, he could tell the age, the ethnicity and many things about the owner of the footprints. His predictions eventually turned out to be embarrassingly true to the dot.
His survival skills  too proved valuable. Caught in a snowstorm, he once saved the Captain's life by building an igloo-like structure from tall grass in a jiffy. Together, Dersu and the battalion explored many areas and experienced many adventures. Dersu turned out to be someone who has utmost respect to the forest. He does not damage it for the sake of it or kill animals for fun. At one juncture, he becomes emotionally disturbed as he had to shoot down a tiger. A tiger in his belief is an animal not to be killed as it would anger the spirits.
From that time on, he was never his old self. He became withdrawn and had nightmares. He even had hysterical blindness to animals. As the expedition came to an end, Captain invited him to stay with him in his home in town.

Dersu could not really fit into the domesticated life. He eventually went back to the forest. With his failing eyesight and emotional instability, he did not survive long.
Again, Kurosawa managed to show to us that you do not have to understand the language to appreciate a good movie. The friendship between two men of different background and stature comes alive with mutual respect and acceptance of each other's conviction without malice. True friendship transcends all borders!

He had some dreams!

Dreams (Japanese, 1990)
Director & Story: Akira Kurosawa

Of all of Kurosawa's films that I have watched so far, this is one that I found least connected to. It is supposed to narrate a few of the director's dreams. I suppose he is also working in his sleep.

It is a series of 8 sequence of dreams. There is minimal dialogue but more of depiction of Japanese cultures and beliefs.

In the first, 'Sunshine through the rain', it highlights the folklore that believes that when the sun shines through a heavy downpour, the fox is getting married. People are expected to stay indoors. Failure of complying may prove fatal, as the young protagonist soon discovers.

'The Peach Orchard' displays the importance of peach in the Japanese culture. The Dolls which are the pillars of the peach festival are upset with the boy who chopped his peach tree.

In 'The Blizzard', the spirit of the mountain in the form of a beautiful woman, saves 4 dispirited mountaineers who were caught in a bad blizzard to reach the summit of their destination.

'The Tunnel' narrates the frustrations and the guilt of a commander in WW2 who was captured by enemy whilst his whole platoon including his anti-tank dogs perished.

'Crows' is a psychedelic presentation with CGI input from George Lucas. A painter is transported into Van Gogh's painting and he travels through the landscape, which uses Van Gogh's paintings as theme, in search of Vincent. Martin Scorsese gives a cameo appearance as the ear sliced near lunatic painter. This is the only snippet where English is spoken.

The last three segments ('Mount Fuji in Red', 'The Weeping Demon'  and 'Village of the Watermills') highlight the danger of nuclear reaction, its devastation, its danger of fauna and flora and finally the yearn of people to reject modernity and to go back to the pre-modernisation era. It ends like the starting scene from Tarkovsky's 'Solaris' with a serene view of stream with hypnotising sounds of flowing water and the restlessly swaying water weeds in it!

Best swords are kept in their sheaths

Sanjûrô (椿三十郎, Japanese; 1962)
Director: Akira Kurosawa

This film is actually a sequel to Kurosawa's 1961 release of Yojimbo. In fact, this one is more entertaining than the former. It is not as violent, and the samurais here use wits and trickery to outbid their opponents rather than brute force. It also showcases many meaningful dialogues like the one stated above - that the best swords are the ones kept in their sheaths.
After watching this offering do you understand why samurai movies were so popular back in the days?

The story is basically about 9 young hot-blooded samurais who are disgruntled with their chief (lord chamberlain) who did not entertain their petition on organised crimes. They think that he may be corrupt. Whilst discussing their predicament, one of them informed that their Superintendent will look into it. Out of nowhere, a rōnin appears at their rendezvous suggesting that it may be the Superintendent who is the corrupt one after all. The rōnin (a samurai without a master), a 30 something who just coins a name for himself (Tsubaki Sanjûrô, after noticing Camellia flowers in the garden; meaning thirty-year-old camellias!)

The young ones were not convinced of his suggestion until they were surrounded. The following story is how these 10 warriors rescue the kidnapped lord chamberlain from the mighty Superintendent and his mighty band of warriors, using wits and dodges rather than might, mostly!
An entertaining flick.