I Live in Fear
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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I Live In Fear is a 1955 Japanese film written and directed by Akira Kurosawa. It was co-written by Shinobu Hashimoto, Fumio Hayasaka, and Hideo Oguni. The story concerns an elderly factory owner so terrified of the prospect of a nuclear attack that he becomes determined to move his entire extended family to what he imagines is the safety of a farm in Brazil.
The film stars Kurosawa regulars Toshiro Mifune and Takashi Shimura. It is in black-and-white and runs 103 minutes. The film was entered into the 1956 Cannes Film Festival.
Plot
Kiichi Nakajima (Toshiro Mifune), an elderly foundry owner convinced that Japan will be affected by an imminent nuclear war, resolves to move his family to safety in Brazil. Nakajima's fervent wish is for his family to join him in escaping from Japan to the relative safety of South America. His family decides to have him ruled incompetent, and he is brought before a three-man tribunal, including Dr. Harada (Takashi Shimura), a Domestic Court counselor, for arbitration. Harada, a civil volunteer in the case, sympathizes with Nakajima's conviction. He points out that the fear of atomic and nuclear weapons is present in every citizen of Japan, and wonders aloud whether it is wrong to rule someone incompetent simply for being more worried than the average citizen. Eventually, the old man's irrational behavior prevents the court from taking his fears seriously, and he is found incompetent. Nakajima grows more and more obsessed with the idea of escaping Japan, eventually resulting in a tragic decision, once he is convinced it is the only way to save his loved ones. The film ends with the doctor pondering whether it may be more insane to ignore the nuclear threat than to take it too seriously.
Cast
- Toshiro Mifune as Kiichi Nakajima
- Takashi Shimura as Dr. Harada
- Minoru Chiaki as Jiro Nakajima
- Eiko Miyoshi as Toyo Nakajima
- Kyoko Aoyama as Sue Nakajima
- Haruko Togo as Yoki Nakajima
- Noriko Sengoku as Kimie Nakajima
- Akemi Negishi as Asako Kuribayashi
- Hiroshi Tachikawa as Ryoichi Sayama
- Kichijirō Ueda as Mr. Kuribayashi's father
- Eijirō Tōno as Old man from Brazil
- Yutaka Sada as Ichiro Nakajima
- Kamatari Fujiwara as Okamoto
- Ken Mitsuda as Judge Araki
- Masao Shimizu as Yamazaki, Yoshi's husband
