Covering the years 1933 when radical student activists protest Japan's invasion of Manchuria though the end of WWII in 1945, the film follows the lives of three protagonists. A rather immature self centered girl (Setsuko Hara) and her two leftist student suitors (Susumu Fujita, Akitake Kono) whose three lives will change dramatically in the course of the story. This was the first film by Akira Kurosawa after the end of the war. Viewing the film, I couldn't help but see the parallels of America during the 1960s and student protest against the Vietnamese war. Kurosawa succeeds admirably during the first two thirds of the film presenting the complexities of changing allegiances (for better or worse) either by necessity or choice as these three mature. It's unfortunate that the last third, when Hara comes to live with Fujita's family, that the film becomes not only utterly conventional but proselytizes too. Still, there are some marvelous visual flourishes that indicate how Kurosawa would bloom in the 1950s. With the wonderful Haruko Sugimura, almost unrecognizable, playing the Fujita's elderly mother at the age of 37.
No comments:
Post a Comment