▲Drunken
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So I just
watched Akira Kurosawa’s movie “Drunken Angel” in Signs and Wonders, and I’ve
sat down in my dorm to write this blog to “reflect” on it. Here we go, mirror
mirror on the wall…
This
film is about a drunkard doctor taking care of a gangster leader named Matsunaga
who is suffering from tuberculosis. Matsunaga deals internally with his own mortality.
He fears death, but doesn’t show or admit to it at first because he wants to
keep face among his gang members, the Yakuza. Fear is weakness in
the Yakuza’s eyes, and if there’s one thing that Matsunaga fears its
exposing his weakness. The doctor constantly berates Matsunaga and
argues with him, attempting to steer him clear of his self-destructive ways,
however the doctor himself indulges in his own detrimental habits, drinking at
every chance he gets, which leads me to my first thought.
One of the reasons I enjoy this film
so much is the chemistry between the two main characters. Even though they are
constantly at odds, they are really quite similar to each other. In fact, that might
be why they conflict so much. The doctor is arguing with a younger version of
himself. He says early on in the film that Matsunaga reminds him of when he was
younger. The Doctor expresses regret towards his actions as a youth, so he
tries to help Matsunaga from making the same mistakes as he did and help him go
a different path. Perhaps the reason that the doctor is so compelled to help
Matsunaga is because he hopes to redeem himself in some way. This is merely
speculation of course, but maybe the doctor thinks that if he can successfully
guide Matsunaga on a better path then his own mistakes and regrets would be
remedied, or at least made less.
Matsunaga constantly resists the
doctor’s instructions out of an inflated sense of pride, and yet he keeps on
coming back to the doctor. He is being pulled back and forth between his desire
to live and his image as a gangster. Back and forth he goes, like a chew toy
between to rottweilers. He suffers from a typically case of something nasty we
like to call “Humanity”. We know what’s good for us, and yet we still go for
something harmful. Instead of reaching for the doorknob to go for a run, we
reach for the twinkies instead.
Oh, I haven’t mentioned Okada yet.
Finally when Matsunaga starts taking
the doctor’s instructions seriously, we get introduced to a lovely and compassionate character
named Okada, who was the former leader of the Yakuza. He just got out of jail, and
starts taking command of Matsunaga’s gang again. This leads to Matsunaga having
his girlfriend swooned away and his leadership role diminished as Okada takes
his place. Eventually Matsunaga can’t take it anymore and attempts to kill
Okada with a knife. The result is the most pathetic knife fight I have ever
seen. As I was watching it I thought to myself “This is Ridiculous! Look how
pathetic they are.” And then I realized, that was Akira Kurosawa’s intention.
As they slopped around clumsily in the slippery white stuff, we saw how
Man, I haven’t even talked about the
“swamp” yet. It’s getting late and I have classes in the morning, but I will
touch briefly on it. The swamp was a metaphor for Matsunaga’s (and perhaps all
humanities) issue. Even though the people knew it would pollute the water, they
still dumped trash and waste into it. Even though Matsunaga knew that if he
drank and smoked his tuberculosis would get worse, but he still did those
things. Even though we know that something is bad for us, we still do it. It’s
because we’re flawed. It’s because we’re human. And sometimes we need a drunken
angel to shove us in the right direction.
~Josiah▲
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