“Even worry has to be done in moderation.” – Mr. Kuribayashi
Amidst Akira Kurosawa’s movies, I Live in Fear is one of his most socially-conscious productions. One of his most disturbing, frightening, and realistic. With an atmosphere and storyline that remain important; set in actuality. The culture of fear and its impact on our society. Especially during a state of war or political chaos.
In this motion picture, we witness a human and dramatic situation. For as political and media talks and debates around the Atomic and Hydrogen bombs grow in Japanese circles, they affect an industrialist named Kiichi Nakajima. Growing paranoid and fearful for his family’s safety, especially at the risk of a fallout from such bombs, he initiates a project to make them all leave Japan with him; so that they can live together on a farm in Brazil that he would manage.
But this project does not please his children and wife. Indeed, they always have built their lives in Japan; through their personal career paths and with the intent of inheriting from their father’s company. So for them, such decision to leave Japan for another country could affect their inheritance and lives. Furthermore, as Kiichi wants to bring along his mistresses and illegitimate children, being forced to live with them becomes unacceptable for his wife and kids who witnessed and clashed with him over his infidelities.
So under this unbearable situation, Kiichi Nakajima’s wife and kids initiate a civil complaint in Court; asking for him to be declared mentally unstable and incapable of managing the family and his factory. And as the court drama occurs, the judges attempt to resolve the conflict the best way they can. Having empathy for the man while realizing the impact of his decisions upon his relatives. And witnessing their decisions’ impact on that family and on Kiichi Nakajima who descends into his madness.
With this film, Akira Kurosawa depicts well the paranoia and growing fear within the 1950s population for the Cold War and the Hydrogen and Atomic bombs. A fear that affected the lives and mental health of millions of people. Especially in Japan which had survived the Hiroshima and Nagasaki incidents during World War 2. Making its population fearful of these destructive devices; which could destroy their country and affect the world.
Other movies like Godzilla explored such reality; about the danger of those devices upon our world. And like the giant dinosaur classic, To Live In Fear does not spare us in its nightmarish depiction of those destructive weapons. Of their impact upon the population; a portion of it living in fear and paranoia over that destructive nightmare, while the other expresses total indifference over it. Between them, judges who try to reasonate and control a situation between two factions. While we stand as bystanders, powerless to stop a conflict from unfolding before us. A drama that affects everyone in the film; a family like many others in the world experiencing the stress of war and the potential of mass destruction weapons. A reality that is still actual, considering the stress of the Ukrainian War that occured last year or even of Fukushima/Tchernobyl and their nuclear facilities’ incidents. Which makes this movie a serious warning letter against the destructive power of Nuclear and Hydrogen.
As for the production of this motion picture, it is fascinating how Toshiro Mifune, who was thirty-five years old at the time, portrayed so well a seventy years old patriarch like Kiichi Nakajima. Though they could have used a much older actor for this movie, Akira Kurosawa and his team employed this man for the job. And it was an excellent choice. Through his performances, Mifune displays an impressive presence. Not once do you feel he is a young man pretending to be an elder. In each scenes, he displays perfectly the powerful presence and fragility of this man.
And as for the make up applied on the actor, the end result is perfect. Usually in movies or tv shows, such make up applied on younger artists tends to be forced or exaggerated. Giving off either a freaky or ridiculous appearance on the performers. But for this movie, none of this occurs. Instead, the make up artists did an amazing job in convincing to us that the actor on screen is not thirty-five years old, but is older. To the point that anyone who’d discover Toshiro Mifune for the first time with this movie would think that he is a seventy years old man; which would give them quite a shock when they found out his true age and appearance.
Regarding the music from Fumio Hayasaka, who passed away from tuberculosis during the production, it is practically absent from the film. Only present in the opening and ending credits. In a jazz tune that brings such an atonal ambience to the film. Making it even more oppressive. A great choice that reminds me of Michael Haneke and Alfred Hitchcock’s initiative to not use soundtracks in several of their films; relying on the ambience of their stories to distabilize the public. Warning to them that the movie they’ll see won’t be a conventional motion picture adventure; but a harsh story that they’d always remember.
At its release, the movie did not get a success as big as The Seven Samurai or Rashomon. Maybe because its difficult social topic and because the film was shown through a very realistic angle, this maybe rebuffed certain audience members, who would have preferred a more exciting or entertaining story than one that reminded them of their actual reality. Which is a bit sad because it is a movie that deserves proper attention from audiences.
Tense, difficult, tragic, and dramatic, I Live in Fear is an excellent Akira Kurosawa film that shows another angle to the filmmaker’s work. One that Criterion brings out with its excellent Eclipse collection; which presents obscure works from notable directors that need to be discovered by more viewers and more fans of the Japanese filmmaker.
It is another great classic from the prolific 1950s era of Akira Kurosawa’s career.
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