Akahige

Nineteenth Century, Japan. Times are hard, there is famine and the people cannot afford a good hospital. Budgets of healthcare are being cut and so is the Akahige's clinic. The movie tells a story borrowed heavily from Dostoevsky. Human minds in extreme conditions.

There are many short stories inside the movie, but but the main story concentrates to the phases of young Dr. Noboru Yasumoto (Yuzo Kayama) and the good hearted and strong Dr. Niide "Akahige". While working with Akahige, Dr. Yasumoto finds his real self and learns how to feel deeper compassion to others.

Akahige is sincere, simple and pure story of the era. I found surprising the way how the movie pulls the viewer right in. You just cannot stop watching this three hours long movie. The characters feel real and genuine, and the movie doesn't have the cultural luggage which normally plagues the movies of this era. Akahige feels fresh. If you haven't seen Kurosawa's movies before, Akahige is great movie to start. You will not be bored.

The movie managed to move the foreign audience too, even the audience who were not especially interested of Japanese cinema or culture. I thought that the movie does have a western influence a bit, in the simple characters and the character development. Yasumoto is so lazy and selfish in the beginning but turns out such a great guy at the end. But at the same time, the story does borrow Dostoevsky, Akahige actually feels like a novel rather than a movie. This is visual poetry.

Cinematography and visual design of the movie is great. Outside there is a constant howling sound of wind and flying dust. There is not one bit of extra glamour, not even in the geishas. The scenes inside the clinic are rich in detail. The scene in which landslide shakes the house, and the destroyed city after the earthquake has strong immersion and realism. It feels like you are there.

There is one scene in the movie which made this movie to deserve it's PG, K16 rating. The story shows operation of woman. That time the sedatives didn't seem to be so strong, and the woman is twisting in pain when being operated, her guts spilling out from her body. The scene is shocking, partly because of her nude body, and more because of the immersion. The audience just have to sit there, without knowing what to do.

Another memorable scene is the one which Akahige fights the bad guys. "Violence is so terrible" he says at the end of the scene, after practically twisting the joints off from his opponents.

I was also surprised of the criticism against geishas in this movie. The mother of the geisha house beat the young girl and wanted to keep her as her slave. To see Sugimura Haruko as such an evil character was surprising. But then, she was obvious choice for this role as she did a long career in Ozu movies.

Toshiro Mifune doesn't surprise as Akahige. He is just as solid actor as you might expect. He has little a bit too mannerism of touching his beard all the time, but perhaps that's the character of great doctor of 19th century. Yuzo Kayama has a strong character and powerful built, but perhaps he plays his role a little too seriously.

It made me surprised to see Sugimura Haruko and Tanaka Kinuyo in this film. Especially Tanaka, the trusty actress of so many Mizoguchi movies, gave interesting addition to this movie as the kind mother of Noboru. And Sugimura Haruko was the madame of the Geisha house.

The young girl Otoyo (Terumi Niki) is also such a fantastic actress, as well as the young boy who becomes her friend.

Akahige marked the end of Kurosawa's collaboration with Toshiro Mifune, as well as was the last Black and White movie of Kurosawa.

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