Here's a remarkable film from the great Akira Kurosawa that often gets overlooked among his more famous movies. Red Beard ("Akahige") (1965) may not be Kurosawa's best, but it's still better than most directors' best and among Kurosawa's finest films. It's also solid proof of the master craftsman's versatility as a filmmaker.

Historical Background: The career of Akira Kurosawa could serve as a lesson in the need for humility, even in the face of a long string of successes. From Drunken Angel in 1948 through Red Beard in 1965, Kurosawa had an unprecedented creative run in which he directed many of his most revered films, including Stray Dog (1949), Rashômon (1950), Ikiru (1952), The Seven Samurai (1954), The Throne of Blood (1957), The Hidden Fortress (1958), Yojimbo (1961), Sanjuro (1962), High and Low (1963), and, finally, Red Beard, itself, in 1965. His films from the early sixties, in particular, were all notably successful at the box-office. One might expect that Kurosawa would have been a veritable magnet, after 1965, for financing, based on that track record, but he was anything but. After the success of Red Beard, Kurosawa became increasingly caustic in his criticism of the commercialism of the Japanese film studios. The filming of Red Beard had also strained his relationship with the great Toshiró Mifune so badly that the two men would never collaborate again, despite having worked together on sixteen different films. Since the film studios attributed part of the success of Kurosawa's films to Mifune, Kurosawa ended up waiting until 1970 to find funding for his next film, Dodes ‘Ka-Den. When it flopped miserably at the box-office, Japanese producers no longer deemed Kurosawa a good investment. The setback was so devastating for Kurosawa that he actually attempted suicide in 1970.

Kurosawa ultimately rebounded, psychologically and professionally, but was still only able to make seven additional films during the rest of his life. His superb 1975 film, Dersu Uzala, was financed and filmed in Russia. After that, Kurosawa went hat in hand to two famous American directors and producers, George Lucas and Francis Ford Coppola, for funding for Kagemusha, which thereby acquired one of the largest budgets ever ($6 million) for a Japanese film. Even so, the film turned out to be something of a dress rehearsal for his great epic, Ran (1985), which was funded by French backers.

In several respects, Red Beard marked the end of an era for Kurosawa. It was the last of his so-called "hero" films, the last to feature Toshiró Mifune, and the last that he would make in black-and-white. Red Beard was distinctive in other ways as well. It was arguably the most narrative-centered and least image-centered of Kurosawa's film. Many critics and fans also consider it the most profoundly humanistic offering from Kurosawa.

The Story: A young doctor, Noboru Yasumoto (Yuzo Kayama), fresh out of medical school and trained in the very latest Dutch practices, pays what he believes will be a brief visit to the government-funded health clinic in Koishikawa, supervised by the veteran and irascible Dr. Kyojio Niide (Toshiró Mifune). The well-connected young Dr. Yasumoto had been anticipating an appointment as a physician to the shogun, the most respected and lucrative assignment for a talented young doctor. Instead, he learns he's been assigned, without even being consulted, to replace Dr. Tsugawa (Tatsuyoshi Ehara), as one of Red Beard's two assistants. To his great disgust, Yasumoto quickly discovers that the waiting room at this clinic smells like rotten fruit and the patients are infested with lice and fleas. The patients here are the poorest of the poor and hardly the kind of up-scale client Yasumoto had anticipated serving. Yasumoto is so angry at the subterfuge that has led him to this dump that he decides to make a nuisance of himself until he's asked to leave. He refuses to wear his uniform, stubbornly boycotts his first supper, and breaks the clinic's rules by lying about in the herb garden. Gradually, over the course of the three-hour film, Yasumoto learns the true meaning of practicing medicine and develops a deep respect for the charismatic Red Beard. Yasumoto's transformation occurs episodically, as a series of "lessons" in life.

The first lesson involves a deranged woman (Kyôko Kagawa), daughter of a wealthy merchant, who is housed in special quarters, built for her at her father's expense. She has a private nurse, Osugi (Reiko Dan), who is secretly in love with Yasumoto's colleague, the idealistic Dr. Handayu Mori (Yoshio Tsuchiya). The deranged woman is known as the "Mantis" because she has repeatedly seduced young clerks, killing them with her hairpin at their moment of ecstasy. Yasumoto encounters the Mantis briefly during one of his rule-breaking ventures into the herb garden, which lies adjacent to her dwelling. One day, the Mantis escapes from her domicile and makes her way to Yasumoto's room. She regales the doctor with stories about the sexual abuse she endured repeatedly as a child, first by a clerk and later by a merchant, men who swore she would die if she ever told anyone the truth. Gradually, she draws Yasumoto into the position of comforting her . . . while deftly removing a hairpin squirreled away in the sleeve of her kimono. Yasumoto is barely able to save himself from being stabbed to death, with the timely intervention of Red Beard. Lesson number one: follow the rules; they're for your own good. Don't believe everything your patients tell you.

Yasumoto's first assignment, as a physician, is to watch over an old man, Rokusuke (Kamatari Fujiwara), who is close to death. Yasumoto is awed by Red Beard's genuine concern for the man, who is friendless, destitute, and without family. Rokusuke is in such despair that he refuses to speak. His suffering is so evident in his breath sounds that Yasumoto is greatly relieved when a nurse comes in to take his place. Soon after Rokusuke's death, Yasumoto is called to Red Beard's reception room, where Red Beard is meeting with the man's daughter, Okuni (Akemi Negishi). She fills them in on Rokusuke's life story. Rokusuke's wife had run off with his young assistant, taking Okuni with her. Later, the mother had forced Okuni to service the man as well, in order to entice him to stay. Okuni had bore the man three children, as his mistress. Twice, her father, a gentle and kindly man, had offered to rescue her from her situation, but she had been too afraid to go with him. Lesson number two: every person, no matter how seemingly irrelevant and spent, has a rich life's story that gives meaning and value to their existence.

Most of the ailments that Yasumoto observes among the clinic's patients are the direct result of their impoverished condition. The physicians of the nineteenth century had rather limited ability to treat most disorders, by today's standards, and were mainly in the business of providing hope and psychological comfort. Yasumoto observes Red Beard's efforts to generate resources for his clinic that include such devious tactics as blackmailing officials and intimidation. Yasumoto also observes the heroic efforts of a man named Sahachi (Tsutomu Yamazaki), on behalf of his community. Sahachi now lies in the clinic dying, but had spent most of his life working tirelessly to help his neighbors. Even when he had taken ill, he had continued to work in order to buy medicine for others. He is beloved in the community and exalted as a saint. As he is dying, Sahachi tells his friends the crucial chapter of his life story. He had once been happily married to his soul mate, Onaka (Miyuki Kuwano), though she had long resisted his proposals because of some unspecified obligation. She had also refused to take him to meet her parents. Onaka, it seems, had been promised to a neighboring man who had helped Onaka's family through difficult times. She had opted to marry Sahachi instead, but had been burdened by tremendous guilt for abandoning her duty to her parents. One day, when an earthquake struck, during Sahachi's absence, in the town where they lived, Onaka had interpreted the catastrophe as a sign that she was being punished for her happiness. The huts had all been reduced to rubble, so she took the opportunity to run away, knowing that Sahachi would think she had died. Two years later, Sahachi had come across her, by chance, and found her with a newborn child by another man. That night, Onaka, torn apart by one guilt and another, went to Sahacki's dwelling and killed herself in his embrace. After burying his beloved, Sahachi had devoted himself to caring for others, to honor her memory. Lesson number three: the greatest solace in life comes from serving others.

Yasumoto accompanies Red Beard to the home of an obese, wealthy lord, whose principal medical problem is conspicuous consumption. He writes the man a strict, low-fat diet and charges him a stiff price for the visit. The two doctors then stop in a local brothel, not as customers, but to check on a prostitute with syphilis. There, they also discover a twelve-year-old orphan, Otoyo (Terumi Niki), being abused because she refuses to prostitute herself on behalf of the madam (Michiko Araki), who claims to be her foster mother, since the real mother died as a prostitute. Red Beard declares the child ill and that he will take her to the clinic. The madam objects and calls a group of thugs, about eleven of them, to enforce her view of the issue. Much to the amazement of Yasumoto, Red Beard not only refuses to back down, he proceeds to defeat the entire group of assailants in a street brawl, with well-placed blows to the limbs, torso, and windpipes. Back at the clinic, Yasumoto is assigned the task of curing Otoyo. Otoyo is a traumatized child, having known nothing but abuse her entire life. She is initially suspicious and non-responsive. When she gets upset, she compulsively scrubs the floors. When Yasumoto tries to get her to take her medicine, she slaps it away. Red Beard walks in as Yasumoto declares, "I give up. She won't let me examine her and won't take her medicine." Red Beard sits down and offers Otoyo a spoonful of medicine. When she slaps it away, he chuckles and offers her another spoonful, refusing to retaliate. When she again slaps it away, he repeats the same chuckle and offer again and again until finally she accepts it. After Red Beard leaves, Otoyo asks Yasumoto, "Why didn't he slap me?"Lesson number four: Don't interpret the failings of your patients as a personal affront. Patience slowly builds trust.

Yasumoto takes ill himself and Red Beard ingeniously assigns Otoyo, who is making guarded progress, the task of nursing him. She applies cold compresses to his forehead long into the night before falling asleep with her head on his side. Without anticipating it, Otoyo begins to care about the young doctor. As she explains to Yasumoto, "The doctor said nursing you was the best thing for me, too." Lesson number five: Caring is the beginning of a cure for despondency.

While in medical school, Yasumoto had been engaged to the pretty Chigusa (Yôko Fujiyama), daughter of Dr. Amano (Ken Mitsuda). She had broken off the engagement, causing Yasumoto a lot of emotional pain and bewilderment. Yasumoto has assumed that it was Dr. Amano who had arranged for him to be relegated to this grotesque public clinic, to remove him as a source of embarrassment. Chigusa sister, Masae (Yôko Naito), has twice tried to talk with Yasumoto, but, still feeling hurt, he has refused to speak with her. Chigusa, in the meantime, has had a child by another man and her father cannot acknowledge either his daughter or the grandchild so long as his family is disgraced by the offense to Yasumoto. Masae, it seems, is being offered as a consolation prize – and a rather beautiful consolation prize at that. If Yasumoto can get past his wounded pride, he'll have a loyal and adoring wife and can also enable Dr. Amano to hold his grandchild at long last. Lesson number six: Let go of the pain and move on. Life's too short to squander in bitterness.

Masae's arrival on the scene poses a problem for Otoyo. She's acquired loving feelings toward Yasumoto, but no one else yet. She grows sullen because she can't abide sharing Yasumoto with Masae. She is unsociable with the cooks and staffers with whom she interacts. There's a little thief plaguing the clinic – a seven-year-old boy named Choji (Yoshitaka Zushi). His family is dirt-poor and he steals gruel, among other things, to help feed his brothers and parents. Otoyo, who understands poverty, helps the boy out, telling him that she'll provide him with leftover rice each night if he'll promise to try not to steal. Dr. Yasumoto and one of the cooks overhear their conversation and are reduced to tears. Later, the cook ensures that there're plenty of leftovers for Otoyo to pass along to Choji. Later, however, Choji's family plots a mass suicide, with poison. The whole family is rushed into the clinic. How many of them survive you'll have to discover for yourself, but the cooks and Otoyo do their level best to help Choji get through the first critical night alive by yelling down the well to call his soul back from the dead. Lesson number seven: Medicine is as much about giving hope as it is about thwarting death.

Themes: There are few films that reach as deeply as this one into the realms of the human condition, including despair and caring. At one level, the film is about the nature of medical care, but, in the nineteenth century, medical care was not materially different than the broader term, "caring." Medicine had few scientifically validated treatments to offer and virtually no capacity to cure ailments. Red Beard knows that his business is as much about giving hope and fighting poverty as it is about disease: "Medical science doesn't know everything. We know the symptoms and how things go. We can only fight poverty and ignorance, and cover up what we don't know. If it weren't for poverty, half of these people wouldn't be sick." Fields like psychology and social services didn't exist, at the time, so medicine encompassed most of what is now divided among many different so-called "helping professions." Medicine has changed both for better and for worse. On the positive side, doctors now have a much broader arsenal of efficacious interventions for many kinds of disease. On the downside, many physicians have lost the holistic orientation and "bedside manner" that Red Beard embodies and which Yasumoto is beginning to appreciate. Beyond that, the film's other specific themes are those listed above as the seven lessons learned by Yasumoto. The one about the value of life residing in loving and caring for others is perhaps most central.

Production Values: The script of Red Beard provides both its greatest strengths and its only significant weaknesses. The general contours of the story were based on a novel by Shugoro Yamamoto, called Red Beard. Shugoro's writings had also provided the main plot elements for Sanjuro. Kurosawa wrote the screenplay for Red Beard himself, incorporating additional elements from Dostoevsky's The Insulted and the Injured, as well as some of his own experiences. The story takes place mainly at the Koishikawa Public Clinic in nineteenth century Japan, near the city of Nagasaki. Medicine in Japan was undergoing major changes due to exposure of Japanese physicians to Western medical practices at the Dutch medical school in Nagasaki. The Japanese referred to Dutch physicians as "Red Beards" and their medical practices as "Red Medicine." Hence the film's title, "Red Beard."

The film's script treats its subject matter with admirable realism. A rich variety of primary and secondary characters are introduced and several undergo character development over the course of the film. Instead of basing the evolution of the main character on one climactic revelatory moment (as all too many films do), Kurosawa allows the deepening of personality and understanding to accumulate gradually as a natural result of numerous experiences (which is how personal growth usually occurs in real life). There's a profound honesty and simplicity to the script that is downright refreshing. The script is highly literate and provides an excellent balance between humor, drama, characterization, and action.

The film's major weakness is that the script is somewhat overly episodic. This gives Red Beard something of the feel of a mini-series or soap opera. Kurosawa strays frequently from the main story in extended tangential subplots. The gradual education of the young doctor Noboru Yasumoto provides the only integrating motif. It's a bit like four or so episodes of Dr. Kildare strung together.

This film is not especially typical of Kurosawa's output due to the extent of emphasis on narrative. Kurosawa was known, both early and late in his career, for spectacular visuals and highly developed camerawork. There's nothing that disappoints about the cinematography for this film. It just doesn't stand out as it does in either The Seven Samurai or Ran. It's kept subordinate to the story. For many of the scenes in Red Beard, Kurosawa uses telephoto lenses to flatten the visual field and allow the camera to remain in focus as it moves. There's an assortment of interesting perspective shots, looking down corridors, for example, and a magnificent tracking shot, near the end, by which the camera descends into a well before turning to peer back up at a group of characters shouting into the pit. If the individual images draw less attention than is typical of Kurosawa's work, they nevertheless exhibit the same masterful composition and richness of chiaroscuro. It's mainly only the kinetic element and the panoramic landscapes that are less in evidence in Red Beard compared to, say, Ran.

The costumes and sets were meticulously designed with period authenticity firmly in mind. Details of medical practice were verified as consistent with nineteenth century medicine. The soundtrack is mostly unobtrusive, though occasionally resorting to those heavy-handed dramatic sounds designed to tell viewers what they are supposed to be feeling. The music sometimes pauses for extended periods of time to allow natural sounds to permeate the atmosphere.

Both of the lead men provide strong performances. Yuzo Kayama gives us a highly sympathetic character as the central protagonist. It is through his eyes that we see the events unfold. Kayama had earlier appeared in Chushingura (1962) and was something of a matinee idol in his day. Mifune's performance is restrained and authoritative. He's magnificent, of course, in the one fight scene, but just as powerful, in other ways, as the compassionate healer and mentor. Mifune's other work included roles in Drunken Angel (1948), Stray Dog (1949), Rashômon (1950), The Seven Samurai (1954), Throne of Blood (1957), The Hidden Fortress (1958), Yojimbo (1961), Sanjuro (1962), the Samurai trilogy (beginning with Samurai 1: Musashi Miyamoto), and Chushingura (1962).

There's some excellent performances by character actors to compliment the stars. The group of women who play the clinic's cooks and staff provide the best of the film's comic relief. Tsutomu Yamazaki, who played Sahachi, also appeared in such films as High and Low (1963), Kagemusha (1980), The Funeral (1984), Tampopo (1986), and A Taxing Woman (1987). Among the women, Reiko Dan was very good as Osugi, as were Kyoko Kagawa as the Mantis, Michiko Araki as the evil madam, Akemi Negishi as Okuni, and Yôko Naito as the sweet Masae. The outstanding female performance, however, belonged to the youthful Terumi Niki, as Otoyo. Kyoko Kagawa also appeared in such films as Tokyo Story (1953), Sanshô, the Baliff (1954), The Bad Sleep Well (1960), and High and Low (1963). Reiko Dan previously appeared in Sanjuro (1962).

Bottom-Line: The excellent criterion DVD version of this film provides an outstanding video transfer and audio track. There're just a small number of extras, but there are some very good ones, beyond the usual theatrical trailer. The commentary tract featuring Kurosawa scholar Stephen Prince is packed with informative detail, though somewhat pedantic and delivered in a monotone, as though he were reading it from a script. The liner booklet includes an excellent essay by film historian Donald Richie.

This is a high quality film, with a touching story and profoundly humanistic themes. The performances are excellent, the cinematography is superb, and the character development outstanding. You shouldn't let my small number of quibbles with the film (such as length and an overly episodic script) dissuade you from watching it. I especially recommend this film for anyone anticipating a career in medicine, psychology, social services, or other helping professions. It's a reminder that we all need to keep our priorities straight and recognize that status and success are less important than making some kind of tangible difference in the lives of our fellow humans. Red Beard is in Japanese with English subtitles and has a running time of roughly three hours.


*************************************************************************************************
You might want to check out these other excellent films from Japan:

The Ballad of Narayama
The Burmese Harp
Chushingura
Drunken Angel
The Eel
Floating Weeds
Gate of Hell
The Hidden Fortress
High and Low
Ikiru
Kagemusha
Kwaidan
Ran
Rashômon
Samurai 1: Musashi Miyamoto
Sanjuro
Sanshô, the Baliff
The Seven Samurai
Shall We Dance?
Stray Dog
The Woman in the Dunes
Yojimbo

Recommended:
Yes

Video Occasion: Good for a Rainy Day
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older