Film

Today, in class we saw a film by Akira Kurosawa called "Dreams". I'll be honest, as soon as I saw the first episode "Sunshine Through The Rain" I didn't understand the meaning and I thought it was going to be an extremely boring movie. But, as I viewed more of the film, I was astonishingly surprised. I was beginning to understand the meaning of this film and the hidden messages. This film does not have a lot of dialogue, basically the Cinematography speaks for itself. The scenery, color scheme and sound effects makes up the whole film.
The first two scenes, "Sunshine Through the Rain" and "Peaches Orchid" were about a little boy and the consequences that they faced because of their innocent actions. Basically, about their childhood "Dreams". First one where the boy secretly goes to watch the fox wedding, which is against nature and culture and then he has to pay the price by killing himself or asking for forgiveness. Second one was about a innocent boy who had to pay the price because of cutting down all the Orchid trees, even the boy didn't do it, he had to pay the consequences for his parents actions. When at the end he started to cry, he was crying not because he was being punished but because he loved the Orchid trees and he feels bad for having them cut down.
The Blizzard was inspiring because it shows that no matter what obstacles that you face in life to never give up and always get up and keep going. Even thought the rest of the mountain men failed and gave up, there was one that encouraged and strives to survive with the help of an Angel like lady.
The Tunnel was interesting and has a lot of hidden messages. At first, I didn't understand why he feared the dog but when I saw that he was being haunted by the dead soldiers I understood that he was afraid of life itself. Because of his misconduct many of the soldiers died in war and he was the only one who survived. He feels guilt and old memories never die, they will always haunt you. Even going through that tunnel, the sound of his footsteps were haunting and creepy making him fearful of life and his surroundings.
The next one was the"crow" where its telling us to not follow anybody but find your own path and discover your own dreams. Find your inner self and this occurs in our adolescent years where we try to find out who we are. Being inspired by Van Gogh and a struggle to find him, he was surprised by the reaction he got from Van Gogh. I guess it means to discover your own path, not follow someone Else's. He was trapped in Van Gogh's wonderful, colorful world and yet he found a way out.
Mount Fiji in Red and The weeping Demon is pertaining to the environment. How humans destroy the environment for their convenience. Mt. Fiji shows that the world has come to an end because of all the nuclear bombing and that the innocent children of the future are going to pay the consequences for our actions. The Weeping Demons is a vision of hell. Again pertaining to the environment were the demon with one horn was paying for his wrongful actions on earth by polluting the water so he can keep the prices high of the goods.
Last and my favorite one was completely the opposite of The Weeping Demon was the Watermills Village were it was like a vision of Heaven. It shows pure, beauty, clean, colorful and innocents and just like the beginning of the story where Akira started out with children, Pure and innocent and clean. Again this is pertaining to the environment. How we tend to destroy a place so beautiful and glamorous. Where in this village they celebrate death because they have lived a life so pure and clean. Where everyone lived a long, healthy life. Also, mentions the alternatives that can be used for our necessities. Like a candle instead of electricity because we destroy the beauty of nature by eliminating night.
Over all the film was an explicit film and I would watch it again. This is also similar to the project we did where had to draw like a storyboard of us. Where words were not necessary, picture mean a thousand words.

Adjectives:

Colorful- abounding in color
Bright -radiating or reflecting light
Glamorous- full of glamour; charmingly or fascinatingly attractive
Sharp- having a thin cutting edge or a fine point
Luminous- radiating or reflecting light
Explicit -fully and clearly expressed or demonstrated


October 7, 2009
A.S.