Dr. Akagi (1998)
"Kanzo sensei" (original title)

At the end of WWII, Japanese doctor Akagi searches for the cure for hepatitis in the prisoner-of-war camp.

Director:

Shôhei Imamura

Writers:

Shôhei Imamura, Ango Sakaguchi (novel),

Stars:

Akira Emoto, Kumiko Asô, Juro Kara

9 wins & 10 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Akira Emoto	...	Dr. Fuu Akagi
Kumiko Asô	...	Sonoko
Juro Kara	...	Umemoto
Masanori Sera	...	Toriumi
Jacques Gamblin	...	Piet
Keiko Matsuzaka	...	Tomiko
Misa Shimizu	...	Gin
Yukiya Kitamura	...	Sankichi
Masato Yamada	...	Masuyo
Tomorowo Taguchi	...	Nosaka
Masatô Ibu	...	Ikeda
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Wayne Doster	...	Robert Hugh Harper
Ben Hiura
Ayumi Ito
Kazuhiko Kanayama	...	Sakashita (as Kozuhiko Kanayama)

Storyline

Dr. Akagi, a rural physician in Japan during WWII, wages a one-man crusade against hepetitis, earning him a reputation as "Dr. Liver." But his fanatic campaign brings him into disfavor with the Japanese army, and as the war seems more and more hopeless for the Japanese, Dr. Akagi finds himself increasingly a scapegoat.

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Plot Keywords:

japanese | japan | doctor | medicine | period piece | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | History | War

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Details

Country:

Japan France

Language:

Japanese German

Release Date:

15 January 1999 (USA)

Also Known As:

Dr. Akagi

Filming Locations:

Hiroshima, Japan

Box Office

Gross:

$71,832 (USA) (23 April 1999)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Catherine Dussart Productions (CDP), Comme des Cinémas, Imamura Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

129 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Connections

Referenced in Warm Water Under a Red Bridge (2001)

User Reviews

DR. AKAGI (Shohei Imamura, 1998) ***

Interesting if typically overlong multi-character drama with a wartime setting, about the exploits of an ageing and old-fashioned doctor (whose diagnosis for all his patients is always the same: hepatitis!) in a fishing community. Several enjoyable vignettes along the way: the young prostitute who becomes the doctor's aide but continues in her clandestine profession against his better judgment; the doctor's appearance at a Tokyo medical conference, in which he is moved to tears by the reception given him by the more illustrious colleagues present; the girl hiding an injured soldier who has escaped from a P.O.W. camp, involving the doctor and several other people from the village (who are later tortured by the authorities); the girl hunting a blue whale, in emulation of her legendary fisherman father, at the film's surprising and strangely beautiful climax - after which she and the doctor witness the historic blast of the atom bomb (which, to the latter appears in the form of an enlarged liver, a common trait of the dreaded hepatitis!).