Kanzo sensei (1998)

Director:

Shohei Imamura

Writers:

Shohei Imamura (writer)
Ango Sakaguchi (novel)

Release Date:

15 January 1999 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | History | War

Plot:

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

Plot Keywords:

Japanese | Doctor | Japan | Period Piece | 1940s

Awards:

9 wins & 10 nominations

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
Shoten Kadokawa
Kazuhiko Kanayama	...	Sakashita (as Kozuhiko Kanayama)
Nae
Atsuko Nakamura
Tohoku Shinsha
Shinya Yamamoto		(as Shin-yo Yamamoto)
Hatsuo Yamaya

Also Known As:

Dr. Akagi (USA)
Kanzo sensei (France)

Runtime:

Argentina:128 min | Japan:129 min

Country:

Japan | France

Language:

Japanese | German

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

South Korea:15 | Argentina:16 | Chile:18 | France:U | Peru:14 | Portugal:M/12 | Spain:13 | Switzerland:16 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:16 (canton of Vaud)

Filming Locations:

Hiroshima, Japan

Company:

Catherine Dussart Productions (CDP)

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Akai hashi no shita no nurui mizu (2001)

The Doctor's Orders; Common Sense for an ILL Society

Imamura Sohei's Kanzo Sensei (Dr Akagi) is reminiscent of Kurosawa Akira's Drunken Angel (Yoidore tenshi). In Kanzo Sensei, Dr. Akagi struggles with the disease that exacts heavy tolls on the Japanese during wartime. There is the sense that the onset of the disease is almost karmatic; people should know to eat well and sleep well, but—because of the country's involvement in the war—are only allowed to do so when they are diagnosed with hepatitis. The patients make the "best of it," getting their basic human psychological and physical needs met. Relaxation and rest brings people back to their human essence and reclaims their health. The sickness is likened to a psychological sickness—"hepatitis of the mind." We see this in Masumura Yasuzo's Kyojin to gangu (Giants and Toys) where the Japanese have been taken over by the Western principles of capitalism and consumerism. In Yoidore tenshi, the benevolent doctor is somewhat over concerned for his patient, who suffers dually from hepatitis and also—as a yakuza—from the cesspool that Japan has become after the occupation. In both Kanzo Sensei and Yoidore tenshi, the doctor is more of a symbol of the medicinal power of compassion; deeply concerned for their patients, the doctors provide not surgery but the common-sense advice to sleep well and maintain a good diet—to understand how society is plagued.