Akira Kurosawa is considered one of the greatest directors of the 20th century. Unusually tall for a Japanese man, he was simple and modest. Kurosawa was an artist whose nobility and sense of deep human drama is clearly depicted in his impressive body of work.
He was born in 1910 in Tokyo, into a family of samurai lineage. He wanted to be a painter and attended an art academy in his hometown. In his early twenties, he went through a creative crisis and after a period of self-discovery, he became an assistant to director Kajiru Yamamoto. During the war in 1943, he made his directorial debut with the film “Saga of Judo,” which was divided into two parts. It was already evident that the young Kurosawa had great potential. He continued to make films that dealt with contemporary themes and slowly built his reputation in the world of Japanese cinema.
Immediately after the war in 1945, he made a short feature film called “The People Who Tread on the Tiger’s Tail,” which was based on a traditional no drama. Here, Kurosawa touches on some of the themes One of the common themes that will characterize his later work are the connection with rich Japanese folklore, the obsolescence of feudal rules, and the despair that people fall into when blindly following them.
Kurosawa’s first major success in Japan was the film Drunken Angel. The plot follows two men with completely different worldviews – a former criminal dying of tuberculosis and a doctor who tries to save him. The first is a selfish bully who wasted his life committing crimes – the second is a selfless doctor who treats the poor without any compensation. The attempt to save the criminal’s life and soul leads both men to new realizations and the understanding that it is never too late to change one’s life. The film Drunken Angel was important for Kurosawa not only as his first hit, but also as the first film with actor Toshiro Mifune, with whom he had one of the most successful collaborations in film history.
Until 1950, he was only known in his homeland and few outside of Japan had heard of him or seen his films. Until then, Kurosawa’s work did not gain international recognition.
The turning point for Kurosawa came in 1951, when the production house Daiei (for which Kurosawa worked) decided to nominate his latest film, Rashomon, for the prestigious Golden Lion award at the Venice Film Festival. Although they had not had high expectations, the film was received with enthusiasm and won the Golden Lion. Kurosawa and his producers were surprised by such an outcome.
Rashomon is a work of undeniable artistic value that opened the doors to the West, not only for the director but for the entire Japanese film industry. The film explores different perspectives on the same event as recounted by individuals who witnessed it. Rashomon showcases all of Kurosawa’s strengths as a director: masterful control over a complex narrative, a strong connection with the actors, and an almost poetic use of light and shadow. One of the most memorable scenes in the film is undoubtedly the frantic chase of the bandit through the forest – Western critics recognized that only someone with a powerful imagination and exceptional technical skill could capture such scenes. and both abilities were definitely possessed by Kurosawa.
However, what makes the film a classic is not just its technical flawlessness; what will touch the audience more than sixty years after the film was made is its deeply humane message of tolerance and harmony, as well as Kurosawa’s unwavering belief in the goodness of man, despite all the hardships he faces. The film contains a strong moral-philosophical message that we should be wary of any form of judgement, because human perception is deceptive and the truth is always one step ahead of human knowledge. Therefore, it is not surprising that the film has sparked so much commentary, and since then the word “Rashomon” has been used as a symbol for the phenomenon of different interpretations of the same event. The film has greatly influenced the entire Western cinema, including directors such as Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese.
After Rashomon, Kurosawa gained greater freedom in his work and better financing conditions. Led by a unique artistic vision, in 1952 he made the film Ikiru (To Live), which and one of the most humane and touching films ever made. The main character is an elderly Japanese bureaucrat who, upon learning that he is dying of cancer, reflects on his life and realizes how empty and futile it has been. In an attempt to redeem himself before his death, he desperately tries to transform a wasteland in the city into a children’s playground. The film’s message is that we cannot embark on our final journey unfulfilled or full of regrets for missed opportunities – a thought that is an integral part of the philosophy, the worldview that has had the greatest impact on Kurosawa.
Two years later, Kurosawa made his most successful film – Seven Samurai. From the very beginning, Kurosawa envisioned the film as a kind of homage to western movies, especially those directed by John Ford. The result is a masterpiece that both entertains and makes viewers think. The story is simple: after years of being plundered by bandits, the villagers unite and decide to hire seven samurai to help them in their fight against the raiders.
Each The samurai is characterized as a wanderer who wants to be a samurai and “follows” the rest of the group more than he truly belongs to it. The main message of the film is that strength lies in unity – the peasants who hired the samurai are finally saved after many hardships. However, one of the samurai remarks at the end of the film, “They have won – we have lost,” which Kurosawa points out the inevitable disappearance of samurai from the historical scene.
Now an internationally recognized director, Kurosawa went on to make two films based on European literary works – Throne of Blood (Shakespeare’s Macbeth) and The Lower Depths (Maksim Gorky’s work of the same name), both of which warn against the destructive power of excessive ambition.
After several intensely dramatic films, Kurosawa made three lighter films. The first is The Hidden Fortress, filmed like a fairy tale with numerous action scenes. The other two films, Sanjuro and Yojimbo (The Bodyguard), deal with social issues. By adhering to norms and striving to live a quality life in difficult times, Kurosawa emphasizes optimism and highlights the importance of having a sense of humor. Circumstances are often as they are and cannot be changed, but understanding that it is better to have a positive attitude than a negative one is the main tool in dealing with everyday challenges. In the film Yojimbo, he speaks about the outdated feudal system. In Sanjuro, he shows how real life cannot be lived by rigid rules and codes, and that family honor cannot be the sole criterion for action. This is a theme to which Kurosawa often returns, and is just as relevant today as it was sixty years ago.
Kurosawa returned to more serious drama with his film “Rashomon,” but the theme remained the same. In the film, an older doctor, known as “Rashomon,” teaches his young apprentice that dedication and selfless service to others can make life great. In his previous films, Kurosawa emphasized that even subpar work Revived life can change at any moment, always enabling spiritual progress and a worthy experience of the rest of life. Kurosawa delves deeper into this concept in “Red Beard” and questions what can help a person on this path of improving one’s life. One lives in a world that is in eternal change, where nothing is permanent, and often struggles to navigate through the flood of events, which leads to despair. Red Beard provides his student with an answer to the question of how to live, by giving an example of self-control and dedication to others. Although the film is set in the 18th century, it is obvious that through outdated feudal forms, Kurosawa criticizes modern society and its norms.
Before falling into a personal, creative, and financial crisis in 1971, leading to the end of collaboration with Mifune, Kurosawa had made another film, “Dodeskaden.” The Japanese film industry was going through a difficult period, with few films being made, and Kurosawa was unable to secure any financial resources. In an attempt to realize his ideas. He traveled to the Soviet Union and made his next film there, Dersu Uzala, for which he was awarded an Oscar for best foreign language film.
Dersu Uzala is a story about the relationship between two men who come from completely different worlds. The protagonist, after whom the film is named, is a hunter who has never lived in a city, but perfectly knows his natural surroundings, with which he has merged over the years. He encounters a man from Moscow, Arseniev, and joins his expedition exploring western Siberia. The exploration of nature turns into a self-discovery journey – Dersu shows the group how to get to know nature and thus get to know oneself. After losing his sight, he goes to live in Moscow with Arseniev’s family. Dersu struggles in the city and eventually leaves Moscow to die in nature, where he belongs. Kurosawa points out the alienation of man from nature and how only a person who lives in nature, far from cities and modern way of life, can preserve the purity of spirit and the joy of living.
After that, he made the film Kagemusha, the most successful The most hollow Japanese film ever made, with grandiose fight scenes. Many consider it a masterpiece of his later period, Ran (Rebellion), an adaptation of Shakespeare’s King Lear intertwined with Japanese folklore, was filmed in 1985. The main character is an old feudal lord, Hidetora, who after many decades spent in bloody battles with his enemies, wants to pass on his power to his sons. However, giving up power is not as easy as he thought. Incensed by his attempt to continue ruling the land, his sons first exile him, and then start a civil war. Kurosawa masterfully contrasts the green, rich landscape, calm and harmonious, with mindless human violence. Hidetora finds inner peace only when he starts slowly wandering the country roads that parallel his spiritual journey, progressing as he distances himself from the cause of his misfortune. Separated from authority and power, after a long time, he finally finds himself. decades, he decided to create his life’s work – a film about his dreams, called Dreams. Completely unburdened by financing and the conditions of producers and studios, Kurosawa wrote the screenplay himself and fully supervised the directing. The result is a visually beautiful film with a magical atmosphere that consists of several vignettes. Logically speaking, the film does not have a linear plot or much sense. However, its message is universal – human dreams are not fleeting visions, but lessons on how to live one’s everyday life. Some of the themes that Kurosawa touches upon are: the hidden forces of nature, the senselessness of violence, man’s yearning for creative fulfillment, and the burning need to preserve the environment. In short, through this film, Kurosawa elevates life in all its beauty and views death not as a tragedy, but as the final chapter of a great journey.
Kurosawa also made two more films, Rhapsody in August and Not Yet.
He died in 1998 in Tokyo. Although he is now best known for his epic films about samurais, His profound nobility and understanding of human aspirations leave his films as exemplars of the seventh art for generations to come.