No Regrets for Our Youth (1946)

The daughter of a politically disgraced university professor struggles to find a place for herself in love and life, in the uncertain world of Japan leading into WWII.

Director:

Akira Kurosawa

Writers:

Eijirô Hisaita (screenplay), Akira Kurosawa (screenplay)

Stars:

Setsuko Hara, Susumu Fujita, Denjirô Ôkôchi

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Setsuko Hara	...	Yukie Yagihara
Susumu Fujita	...	Ruykichi Noge
Denjirô Ôkôchi	...	Professor Yagihara, Yukie' father
Haruko Sugimura	...	Madame Noge, Ryukichi's mother
Eiko Miyoshi	...	Madame Yagihara, the prodessor's wife
Kokuten Kôdô	...	Mr. Noge, Ryukichi's father
Akitake Kôno	...	Itokawa
Takashi Shimura	...	Police Commissioner 'Poison Strawberry' Dokuichigo
Taizô Fukami	...	Minister of Education
Masao Shimizu	...	Professor Hakozaki
Haruo Tanaka	...	Student
Kazu Hikari	...	Detective
Hisako Hara	...	Itokawa's Mother
Shin Takemura	...	Prosecutor
Tateo Kawasaki	...	Servant

Storyline

In 1933, in Kyoto, academic freedom is under attack and the spoiled daughter of Professor Yagihara, Yukie Yagihara, is courted by the idealistic student Ruykichi Noge and by the tolerant Itokawa. When the academic freedom movement is crushed by the fascists, Professor Yagihara and the members of the Faculty of Law resign from their positions and Noge is arrested. Five years later, Noge visits Professor Yagihara and his family under the custody of the now Prosecutor Itokawa and tells them that he is going to China. Yukie decides to move alone to Tokyo and years later, she meets Itokawa in Tokyo and tells her that Noge is living in Tokyo. Yukie visits Noge and they become lovers. In 1941, Noge is arrested accused of being the ringleader of a spy network and Yukie is also sent to prison. When she is released, she decides to move to the peasant village where Noge's parents live and are blamed of being spies by the villagers. She changes her lifestyle and works hard with Madame Noge ...

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Plot Keywords:

professor | students | japanese nationalism | anti war | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

6 June 1980 (USA)

Also Known As:

No Regrets for Our Youth

Filming Locations:

Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan

Company Credits

Production Co:

Toho Company

Technical Specs

Runtime:

110 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White (processed by Toho Film Labortory)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Filming in 1946, just after the war, many of the cast and crew were living very poor lives, going hungry quite often. One of the actors recalled a personal story of his stomach growling during filming, causing the scene to have to be shot again.

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Quotes

Servant: I'm a janitor, but I'll fight for freedom, too.

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Connections

Featured in Nihon eiga no hyaku nen (1995)

User Reviews

Fight for Freedom

In 1933, in Kyoto, the academic freedom is under attack and the spoiled daughter of Professor Yagihara (Denjirô Ôkôchi), Yukie Yagihara (Setsuko Hara), is courted by the idealistic student Ruykichi Noge (Susumu Fujita) and by the tolerant Itokawa (Akitake Kôno). When the academic freedom is crushed by the fascists, Professor Yagihara and the members of the Faculty of Law resigns from their positions and Noge is arrested.

Five years later, Noge visits Professor Yagihara and his family under the custody of the now Prosecutor Itokawa and tells that he is going to China. Yukie decides to move alone to Tokyo and years later, she meets Itokawa in Tokyo and he tells that Noge is living in Tokyo. Yukie visits Noge and they become lovers.

In 1941, Noge is arrested accused of ringleader of a spy network and Yukie is also sent to prison. When she is released, sooner she learns that Noge died in prison and she decides to move to the peasant village where Noge's parents live and are blamed of being spies by the villagers. She changes her lifestyle and works hard with Madame Noge (Haruko Sugimura) planting rice and earning the respect of her mother and father-in-law. With the end of the war, freedom is restored in the defeated Japan and the flowers blossom again.

Japanese militarists used the Manchurian Incident as a pretext to press the public for support to invade the Asian mainland. Any opposing ideology was denounced as "Red". The Kyoto University Incident a.k.a. Takigawa Incident was one example of this tactic.

Using this historical event and the Japanese tradition as background, Akira Kurosawa released in 1946 the fictional "Waga seishun ni kuinashi" a.k.a. "No Regret for Our Youth" to disclose the lack of freedom in Japan of those years. I do not recall in this moment any other film of this great director with such strong female character. Further, Kurosawa seems to be influenced by Yasujirô Ozu disclosing the relationship of Yukie with her family first and with Noge's parents in the second half of his story. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Não Lamento Minha Juventude" ("No Regret for Our Youth")