Rx for Integrity

Without the energetic performance of Toshiro Mifune as the young gangster Matsunaga in Drunken Angel the movie would be like another edition of a doctor movie of the week.  The galvanizing relationship between Matsunaga and Takashi Shimura as the alcoholic Dr. Sanada speaks volumes about the consitions of the time as well as a parallel to our our current relationship with Medicine today.

In post war Japan Dr. Sanada (Takashi Shimura) runs a clinic on the edge of a sewage dump on a slum-ridden area of the city, attempting to deal with the ills and sickness of the citizentry as best as he can with a limited ration of medical goods.  One evening Matsunaga (Toshiro Mifune) a young man comes to him with an injured left hand telling the doctor that he caught the hand in a door.  When Sanada operates he discovers a bullet is lodged in the hand and realizes that he is dealing with a young gangster from the neighborhood.  Sanada sees something of himself in the proud Matsunaga and when he notices a persistent cough from the young thug examines him further and discovers a problem with one of the young man's lungs and instruct him to get X-rays to be sure.  Matsunaga angrily reacts, accusing the doctor of trying to swindle him and storms out.  Eventually Sanada convinces Matsunaga to take a cure for the lingering Tuburculosis that he has contracted, but when the former gang boss Okada (Reisaburo Yamamoto) returns from prision and reforms his former gang he pulls Matsunaga into a life of debauchery with smoking and drinking which causes his health to fall drastically.  At one point when Matsunaga begins coughing up blood, Okada steals his girl and kicks him out of the gang, while Sanada attempts to convince the young proud gangster to stop in order to save his own life.  As an act of reaffirming his place as a virile presence Matsunaga rises from his sick bed and confronts Okada.

Akira Kurosawa broke through with this film exhibiting his producing, screenwriting and directing talents to form his first "auteur" film.  Although additional writing credits must be given to Keinosuke Uegusa who also aided in scripting One Wonderful Sunday with the director. 

The process that the script underwent in light of the post-war screening board of the American-occupied Japan is enough for a feature on how to make a film under extreme duress.  This DVD includes, in the additions, some of the long involved writing and approval process that was required in order for the script to get produced.

Takeo Ito supplies an excellent uses of black and white imagery particularly in the night setups to use shadow excellently as a way of characterizing the different forces of the day, and the day exteriors of the slum and the surroundings are captured in documentary-style photography.

Kurosawa's use of symbolism works well to establish the swamp land of post-war Japan as characterized by the large area of standing typhoid-tainted water that rests outside the opening door to the medical clinic where Sanada struggles with the rationed supplies to treat the illnesses of the populace in this slum of the city.  As if to state that the medical industry is drunk on its own presumptuous ideals of successful medical treatment, Sanada spends his days mixing 100%-proof alcohol with his tea in order to buffer his feelings that what he is doing has no real merit in healing the ills in society.

Kurosawa captures all too well the influence and injection of Americanism into Japan culture as many signs are written in English, and the traditional Japanese dress is replaced by suits and ties- ultimately the influence of Western culture is pointed to as part and parcel of the causes of social ills in the post-war Asian nation.

The western dress of suits and ties is injected in interesting ways.  We first meet Okada after he is released form prison he appears playing a jaunty tune on the guitar, and dressed in traditional Japanese dress.  When he first makes contact with Matsunaga, Okada has changed into a western style suit and tie.  Their first contact is reflected in the poisonous water pond outside of the clinic at the moment when Matsunaga contemplates his future having just learned of his Tubercular condition- it is as if the pond were spawning yet another social illness.

Kurosawa believed that Drunken Angel was his film that he got to make his way.  The set was a sprawling set that had been constructed for an earlier film called Age of Fools and Kurosawa agreed to use the exterior houses in order to shave off expenses from his budget.  As the script developed Kurosawa was hit by the idea of the huge sump that formed itself in the center of the city and the director had this created as one of the central symbols of his film.

It's is a fascinating film in part for the performance of Mifune and the excellent ways the themes are developed visually.  It goes really well with Dunkin Donuts Oatmeal Raisin cookies.