I Live in Fear AKA Ikimono no kiroku
R1 - America - Criterion Collection
Review written by and copyright: Cory Max (17th March 2008).

The Film

Akira Kurosawa is most famously remembered for the samurai epics he made in the 50’s and 60’s. Shichinin no samurai, Kumonosu jô and Yojimbo were landmark films which bolstered Kurosawa’s directorial prestige around the globe. Sandwiched between the first two films I mentioned was Ikimono no kiroku (I Live in Fear), a postwar drama set amidst the fears of nuclear Armageddon. For the most part, this film has been forgotten or dismissed by most critics and Kurosawa fans alike. And while it may not have the intensity of his jidai-geki films, or the subtle humanity of say Ikiru , it does have relevance in Kurosawa’s canon of screen releases. It would also be a turning point in the careers of both Toshirô Mifune & Takashi Shimura , as from this film on, Mifune would be the star and Shimura would be relegated to supporting roles. Unfortunately, this change really should have taken place starting in the next film, as Shimura would have been better suited to portray the main character this time out.

Kiichi Nakajima (Mifune) is the patriarch of a modestly successful family living in postwar Tokyo. The factory that the family owns is prosperous, due to the fact that Kiichi is an astute businessman and governs his interests with intelligence and compassion. It is the same for the family that counts on his company to provide the profits needed to keep the lifestyle they’ve become accustomed to, on an even keel. But as world tensions are increasing, due to the creation of the H-bomb, Kiichi’s actions have started to worry his children. They fear that his paranoia over the thought of nuclear annihilation has made him delusional and slowly his mind is slipping towards insanity. Yet Kiichi see his actions as noble and protective of the family that he loves, which includes children from various mistresses he has relations with. His plan is to sell the factory and move his family circle to a safe haven away from the nuclear stalemate that’s being played on the world stage. His Garden of Eden is Brazil, and to that end, Kiichi has made arrangements with a Japanese farmer and landowner who has been living there, to swap interests in their respective countries.

The family is not pleased with the thought of uprooting themselves and moving halfway across the world to start their new life and try to have their father deemed incompetent by an impartial court of arbitrators. It is in this court where the film opens as the various members of Kiichi’s extended family are vying for position in anticipation of the courts ruling. But when the proceedings are finished, they are dismayed to learn that Kiichi’s demeanor and the reasoning behind his actions have struck a nerve in the minds of the arbiters. They too live with a repressed fear of nuclear bombs, as countrymen sharing a bond that is brought about by being the only nation to have had that tragedy visited upon them. So for the time being, they decide to grant an injunction against Kiichi, which keeps the old man from selling his factory. But they don’t acquiesce to the family’s desire to have Kiichi deemed incompetent; instead they pass the case along to the next level in the adjudication process.

***SPOILER ALERT***

Kiichi harbors no ill will toward his family over the proceedings and as the film progresses; we see just how much he really cares for them. It is in their selfishness to keep what is theirs, that his children are truly blind to his compassionate side. Kiichi starts to believe that the factory is the anchor that is keeping him from setting sail to his imagined paradise. In a moment of desperation, to save his family from the horrors he has conjured up in his mind, he destroys what he had built up with his bare hands from scratch. When he explains his reasoning to his family, they finally believe that he has gone mad. Yet Kiichi still has his faculties intact, but that will change quickly as a worker at the factory scorns him for destroying the factory to save his family at the cost of the workers ability to provide for theirs. This revelation is too much, and Kiichi succumbs to madness and is finally put away by the court. It is in their blind ambition to save their father’s holdings for themselves that they finally push him into the demented state that was never there in the first place.

Is it a must see? Not really, but if your interested in Kurosawa beyond his samurai films then it is worth a viewing. Its message may now seem overly melodramatic by today’s standards, but the performances are first rate and as with all Kurosawa films, it is beautifully filmed.

Video

As with all the films released by Criterion for its Eclipse series, only a moderate effort was made to clean up the print presentation. The film has moments of grain, specks and slight damage, yet is not intrusive enough to detract the viewer from enjoying the story. It is presented in its original aspect ration of 1.33:1 full frame.

Audio

Just your basic Dolby Digital 1.0 mono Japanese soundtrack. The dialogue is crisp and clear and never muddled. This is very important with any film that Toshirô Mifune appears in, as he was famous for muttering his lines in a somewhat mumbling manner.

English subtitles are included.

Extras

As with all of the DVD releases in Criterion’s Eclipse series, there are no supplements at all. For me, this is acceptable due to the fact that Criterion is giving me access to films that probably wouldn’t see the light of day in a full-scale release. I believe that anyone who would buy these sets knows what they are getting for their money.

Overall

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