If You Love ‘Godzilla Minus One,’ Watch This Underrated Akira Kurosawa Movie

The big picture

• by Akira Kurosawa
  I live in fear
  chronicle of a time when the people of Japan live in fear of a nuclear war.
• The film stars Toshiro Mifune as an elderly man who wants to move his family out of the country for their safety.
• In the same way that
  Godzilla Minus One
  Kurosawa's underrated film delves into the psychological response with a gripping character study.

Godzilla, the reptilian kaiju monster, has long been a paradigm of the fears many Japanese had about atomic bombs after World War II. The possibility that other parts of Japan could be affected like Hiroshima and Nagasaki was cause for panic even after life apparently returned to normal. But did he? It has become the highest-grossing Japanese live-action film ever released domestically, Godzilla Minus One revisits the horrors of what Godzilla truly represents, resulting in a stunning, character-driven story.

Next to Oppenheimerwhich narrated the origins of atomic bombs, the 33rd installment in Japanese of the Godzilla The franchise was celebrated at the Academy Awards for Best Visual Effects. But Godzilla Minus One it is not only the only thought-provoking film that deals head-on with the consequences of war. One of the first films to show the devastating psychological impacts of World War II from a Japanese perspective is Akira Kurosawathe most underrated film of is called I live in fear (1955). The film surrounds a period when the Japanese people live in fear of nuclear war, creating the most truthful and emotional story of the legendary author's career.

What is the story of “I live in fear” about?

According to Akira Kurosawa's memoirs, Something like an autobiography, I live in fear grew out of the director's conversations about the 1954 H-bomb test accident with his longtime film composer I smoke Hayasaka. Hayasaka had told Kurosawa, “The world has reached such a state that we don't really know what tomorrow holds. I wouldn't even know how to go on living, I'm so uncertain.” The film was made only a decade after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in March 1945, and yet the emotions of panic presented to its audience are felt. as authentic and raw as they were during the immediate.

I live in fear explores the psychological effects of World War II nuclear bombing. At thirty-five, the spell Toshiro Mifune he plays an elderly foundry entrepreneur, Kiichi Nakajima, who is struck by the sudden realization that he and his loved ones will be destroyed in a nuclear attack on Japan. Moving quickly and rashly, Nakajima's fears lead him to make crazy decisions that lead him to pursue the idea of ​​moving his entire family to Brazil. First he takes out a large sum of money to try to build an underground shelter. His plans soon turn south when his family learns of his intentions and takes their concerns to the Tokyo family court.

Nakajima's three older children seek help from a dentist, Dr. Harada (Takashi Shimura), who is a volunteer court worker, to declare his father mentally incompetent. Dr. Harada takes time to hear both perspectives. The family expresses concern that Nakajima will lose all his money and inheritance when he moves to Brazil: no one in the family wants to live in a different country out of illusions. Harada tries to recognize Nakajima's terror, question whether it is right to consider someone incompetent just for being more concerned than the average citizen. However, when Nakajima's reckless actions become more irrational, Dr. Harada and the court rule in favor of the family, removing their ability to control financial decisions.

“I Live in Fear” shows the social and mental devastation of the bombs in Japan

Not taking no for an answer, Kiichi Nakajima gathers his family (three illegitimate children, two surviving mistresses, his wife, and the four children they have together) and begs them on their hands and knees to move with him to a farm in Brazil. Failing to convince them, the old man becomes more determined to protect his family from a nuclear attack, and his mental state soon deteriorates into chaos. One night, Nakajima makes a last-ditch effort to force his family to join him in Brazil. He decides to burn down the foundry so that no one in the family has a source of income coming to them in Japan! At the dawn of the disaster, the family and the factory workers are beyond devastated. Nakajima's terror of a nuclear holocaust transformed his sanity into selfish recklessness. He had no regard for the livelihood of his employees, and his self-centered plan angers the entire neighborhood. It is Nakajima's son-in-law who gives the most moving speech about the reality of his situation, stating that there are enough nuclear weapons in the world to kill everyone. Even if Nakajima moves to Brazil, it just doesn't matter. A nuclear bomb can be dropped anywhere in the plant at any time, and that is the scariest truth.

The last moments of I live in fear They sadly reveal the unfortunate fate of nuclear fear. Nakajima is sent to a mental institution after burning down the foundry. Dr. Harada visits the facility and expresses his revelations to a psychologist. Kiichi Nakajima's case made him wonder if people don't care enough about nuclear threats and have taken the issue too lightly. Later, Dr. Harada's pity intensifies when he witnesses how mentally unstable Nakajima has become. The elderly businessman is now numb to normalcy and appears senile. The nuclear panic has made Nakajima believe he lives on another planet, mistaking the sun for a burning Earth.

Akira Kurosawa wrestles directly with the demons of war in The Awakening I live in fear. Even more, Godzilla Minus One it alludes to the mental decline of people's fears in the face of a power that can take life in a matter of seconds. Kōichi Shikishima (Ryunosuke Kamiki) also struggles with traumatizing depression after his team is slaughtered due to his mistake. His nightmares of Godzilla constantly harbor within him throughout his life, which is a similar psychological path that Kiichi Nakajima struggles with.

What makes Godzilla incredibly terrifying as a villain is that he is presented as a metaphor for nuclear war. After the bombing of Tokyo a Minus One, the Japanese are broken. Kōichi's journey of redemption to prevent Godzilla from being another tragedy parallels the despair of Nakajima's character. Avoiding a nuclear bomb attack is nearly impossible, and Nakajima's family knows this all too well. His resistance to moving to Brazil shows that we are all forced to live in a society where any man-made power and menace like Godzilla could wipe us out with a single round of atomic breath.

The public is not faced with a real display of the effects of nuclear bombing I live in fear The images of total annihilation are subtly there to highlight how the fear of death can consume someone into insanity. It is one of the few films that emotionally describes a society emerging from the shadows of nuclear war, reflecting the memories of Kōichi's past and the anxieties of losing those closest to him at the hands of Godzilla. Kurosawa's underrated film may not be his most innovative work; despite this, I live in fear it is a satisfactory resource, then Godzilla minus one, for its thoughtful history of a transformative time from which the world will never recover.

I live in fear is available to watch on the Criterion Channel in the US

WATCH THE CRITERION CHANNEL