"Records of the Living" depicts the inner world of the little people, showing the inner struggle of the protagonist Xiichi in terms of expressions, movements, language, behavior, etc. The exaggerated facial expressions are far better than the blood dripping from guns.
War, environment, and human nature are deeply revealed through the lives of little people under the lens of Akira Kurosawa. The ultimate concern of human nature must eventually return to the individual: every fresh life!
——There are many movies with inscriptions that show the destruction of human nature by war, but most of them talk about war in terms of war, and rarely can show the cruelty and numbness of war from the people involved in the war and ordinary little people. In "Records of the Living", the background is Japan after the end of World War II. As the only country in the world that has experienced the atomic bomb war, the psychological shadow of the war, especially the atomic bomb, has always existed on the Japanese people, and the film is exactly the same. Starting from this point, through the story of a small person who asked to move his family because he was afraid of the radiation of atomic bombs and hydrogen bombs, but was sent to a mental hospital by his family, it revealed the small person's care and love for his family under the shadow of war, but However, it is not understood, resulting in a psychological state of struggle, hesitation, and despair. Further, it is the loss and untrustworthiness of the entire society for the future, which reflects the indifferent emotional relationship between people under the distorted living conditions of post-war Japan. A direct conflict with material interests, where everyone is self-centred and lacks overall security.
No one is not afraid of war, no one is not afraid of the radiation of atomic bombs and hydrogen bombs, just as there is no one who is not afraid of the epidemic of swine flu now. Fear itself exists as a phenomenon, it can spread as quickly as a plague, or it may freeze a little like a frozen fossil.
In "Records of the Living", Xiyi is a wealthy middle-class, he has many children and grandchildren, and even has two mistresses. For such a middle class, they should have no worries about food and clothing and live a prosperous life. However, in the film, the opposite is true. Xiyi is deeply afraid of the radiation of atomic bombs and hydrogen bombs. I am also planning to move my family to Brazil. However, his decision was not supported by his children. Instead, he was considered too radical by his children, and he sued the court, hoping that the court would limit his capacity.
In the film, Kiichi is selfless. His care for his family and his love for his children are reflected in his words and deeds. Even for the children born to his mistresses, he also pours the same feelings into it. The daily details such as subsidizing his family reflect his care for his children; on the contrary, it is his daughter's small abacus. The son and daughter discuss how to divide his property and how to get the foundry, while the mistress's The child born is thinking about how to get into Xiyi's hukou so that he can share his inheritance. Comparing the two, the worldly feelings, the warm and the bitter, and one by one, it is enough to make people feel embarrassed.
Kiichi was in deep anxiety from the beginning to the end, from the court's arbitration, to the contact with the Japanese returning from Brazil, to raising money everywhere in the rainy days, until he fell ill from exhaustion, played by Toshiro Mifune. Through his dark face, distorted expression, and desperate eyes, Xiyi conveyed the trembling of fear and the complete shatter of hope, so that in the end he set fire to the foundry he owned and destroyed all his dreams. and ended up in a mental hospital.
The dentist, played by Shimura Joe, has always been a bystander. He knows that the judgment of Xiyi's incapacity is a wrong decision, but he cannot prevent the execution of the judgment. He is also in a dilemma in the struggle between compromise and self, so, He found Xiyi several times, but he wanted to say no to Xiyi, and he was helpless. In the face of the pressure of reality, it is obvious that the power of the individual cannot reverse the consciousness of the group, just like a boat in the face of huge waves. wave away.
At the end of the film, Xi Yi, who was already insane, pointed to the fiery red sun outside the window and shouted: "The earth is finally burning." This is Xi Yi's last despair, and also Xi's final realization to the world: the earth will eventually be in the self-righteous modern age. Civilization becomes more dangerous! In reality, why not? SARS, swine flu, the North Korean nuclear crisis, the Middle East-Palestine-Israel war… We are threatening a crisis under the cover of prosperity, and no one is 100% safe.
"Records of the Living Man" is known as Akira Kurosawa's most controversial film, perhaps because the film involves the atomic bomb, or perhaps the realism under his lens is too cold, but, in my opinion, Akira Kurosawa's allegorical expression, the penetrating portrayal of human nature, and the ruthless disclosure of the falsehood of family affection and the sophistication of the world show a realistic life. There are countless such examples around us, but many times, we do not Willing to lift the curtain.
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