Drunken Angel: a lesson in grief

Yesterday when I heard we were going to be watching a film called "Drunken Angel" I didn't quite know what to expect. I had skimmed a small portion of the story on the information email, but still the details of what I would see were hazed in mystery. I arrived at Becker slightly early to find that pretty much all the seats were filled. After playing the name game with Prof Leeper( ITS SHAWN, SHAWN J.DAVIDSON, REMEMBER THE NAME), I took my seat in the front row and waited. After a few more viewers arrived, the movie began and it was quite a ride.

With the opening Japanese titles passing by, I could see Akira Kurosawa's name in the director slot and the film to come would truly show just what he was capable of. The movie takes place in a hot, humid, swampy, mosquito filled Japanese town that is feeling the hard hit of the post war. One night a local thug named Matsunaga who is a high ranking member of a mafia called the Yuzuka, comes to the shack of a poor doctor for assistance with ailing hand. The thug explains that he was careless and slammed the door on his hand where a nail struck it. The doctor soon finds not a nail, but a bullet in the hand of the thug. Such character development from this early a point was truly fantastic to see. The doctor also informs the thug that he has a hole in his lung caused by tuberculosis. It is from here that we see the rocky beginnings of the relationship between the Doctor and thug. The doctor continually tries to warn the thug of his impending doom and as the thug continually pummels the poor hapless physician for what ever reason he sees fit.

While watching it hit me that Matsunaga was displaying almost the exact qualifications of the well known "5 stages of grief." According to the 1969 book "On death and dying" by Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, the five stages are:

1. Isolation and Desolation. Matsunaga may not have isolated himself physically, as we saw him constantly hanging around the local hooker/pub dance joint. Even while there he could not enjoy himself however because of the thoughts of his impending doom, and I feel that he had partially isolated himself mentally from his disgusting sleazy world.

2. Anger. This goes almost without explaining. Anytime he was questioned about his problems, Matsunaga tended to lash out at anyone. His girlfriend, the other thugs and especially the doctor. He did come to respect and vouch for the doctor when the time came for it however.

3.Barganing. We don't quite see Matsunaga in this postion as far as I know, because he tries to maintain his dignity and respect for most of his scenes in the film. According to the http://psychcentral.com/lib/the-5-stages-of-loss-and-grief/000617 website article written by Julie Axelrod, "The normal reaction to feeling vulnerable and helpless is often a need to regain control." Matsunga may not feel control in the coming situation, but he will do anything he can to seem like he does.

4. Depression. This is one we definitely see through out the whole film, through it all Matsunaga displays massive amounts of depression. He fears for his life but will not show it because he does not want to lose standing with his men. In short, Matsunaga is about as depressed as a dying man can be.

5. Acceptance. I did not quite see Matsunaga accept his destiny of death say for one scene where he was obviously drunk. Other than this I feel he may as well have accepted it though for all of his constant drinking and ignoring of the doctors advice. While I know that Ignorance and Acceptance are two different things, in this case, I feel they can work as one. 



These analogies are a bit broad, but I think they work in this case. I found it interesting where we see 3 characters fighting their own inequities to do the right thing. Matsunaga with his drinking and dirty lifestyle, The doctor with his liquor addiction, and the doctor's nurse who was abused and left by a vicious criminal named Osaka(if I remember correctly) and struggles with hating Osaka, while fighting her feelings of loyalty and care for him at the same time. These character struggles make the movie and the situation all the more human and relatable and I can honestly say I felt sorry when Matsunaga died of a stab wound. The shots, the lines, the actors, the story, it all adds up and the math is sound. Watch this movie if you haven't already, it is incredibly well organized and directed.

(P.S here's my fave shot in the whole film, I just love it when movies take their cinematography and camera work seriously and creatively at the same time) :)