This is an odd little curio from the Cold War era. I think it played a lot better back in the 1950s, as today many younger viewers won't be able to relate to the theme...it will all seem too weird and too tough to understand.
Toshiro Mifune plays a man much older than he actually was--so he's had his hair whitened for the film and he walks about hunched over like an old man. He suffers from a severe obsession--that Japan is going to be destroyed by a nuclear war. Now back then, such worries were pretty common--and pretty normal. But, the degree to which this bothers him is extraordinary. He simply cannot function as he is so obsessively worried--and insists as the family patriarch that his entire family move to the only safe place on Earth--the Brazilian rain forest! He also wants to sell off the family's profitable business--a factory that employs hundreds of workers.
Much of the film concerns the family's reaction to the mania--a tough balancing act between traditional Japanese reverence for the elderly as well as the family standing against this tradition to oppose him. It also concerns the reaction of one particular person outside the family (Takashi Shimura)--a man who sits on a committee of three to decide whether or not Mifune is competent to control the family assets.
Eventually whether or not the family moves and sells the business is decided by Mifune and the end of the film is rather heart-breaking. In fact, it's a bit of a missed opportunity in a way. You see, in many ways, Mifune is the NORMAL person through much of the film because others are NOT so concerned about nuclear annihilation! But, this is completely lost in the end when you see that, yes, Mifune's character is 100% crazy! Not a bad film, but one that just seemed to miss the mark a few times--especially at the end. After all, what was it really trying to say?! I'm not exactly sure.
Toshiro Mifune plays a man much older than he actually was--so he's had his hair whitened for the film and he walks about hunched over like an old man. He suffers from a severe obsession--that Japan is going to be destroyed by a nuclear war. Now back then, such worries were pretty common--and pretty normal. But, the degree to which this bothers him is extraordinary. He simply cannot function as he is so obsessively worried--and insists as the family patriarch that his entire family move to the only safe place on Earth--the Brazilian rain forest! He also wants to sell off the family's profitable business--a factory that employs hundreds of workers.
Much of the film concerns the family's reaction to the mania--a tough balancing act between traditional Japanese reverence for the elderly as well as the family standing against this tradition to oppose him. It also concerns the reaction of one particular person outside the family (Takashi Shimura)--a man who sits on a committee of three to decide whether or not Mifune is competent to control the family assets.
Eventually whether or not the family moves and sells the business is decided by Mifune and the end of the film is rather heart-breaking. In fact, it's a bit of a missed opportunity in a way. You see, in many ways, Mifune is the NORMAL person through much of the film because others are NOT so concerned about nuclear annihilation! But, this is completely lost in the end when you see that, yes, Mifune's character is 100% crazy! Not a bad film, but one that just seemed to miss the mark a few times--especially at the end. After all, what was it really trying to say?! I'm not exactly sure.