Today recommends a film directed by Akira Kurosawa in the early days, "Muddy Angel", which was released in 1948 and starred Byo Shimura and Toshiro Mifune, telling the story of a long-term drunken bad-tempered doctor and gangsters, and negating the traditional Japanese dedication and social irony of the time through the various details of the film, with vague anti-war intentions, showing the chaos of Japanese social formation after World War II.
The plot of the movie is relatively simple, and there are no complicated twists. In defeated Japan, Sanada (Joe Shimura) is a poor community doctor who likes to drink, he is good at treating tuberculosis and various minor diseases, but because of his alcoholism and temper, he left the big hospital and opened his own clinic to make a living, although he likes to be angry with patients who don't like to look good, but he is very serious about patients.
The local gang leader Matsunaga (Toshiro Mifune) seeks treatment for him due to a hand injury, but Dr. Sanada sees the symptoms of tuberculosis and persuades him to go for more tests, but because of his rude words and the gang leader Matsunaga's temper is not good, the two fight.
Although they did not get along happily, Dr. Sanada still went to find Matsunaga many times and persuaded him to treat his own disease, and the two reconciled after many conflicts, and Matsunaga, a gang leader who did not dare to admit that he was afraid of illness and death, finally decided to quit drinking and pay attention to his body, but at this time, his former eldest brother Okada (Reisaburo Yamamoto) came out of prison, in order not to damage the face of the eldest brother, Matsunaga began to drink again, and his health was getting worse and worse.
As his health deteriorated, Matsunaga's position in the gang was gradually replaced by his former eldest brother Okada, and Dr. Sanada's clinic took in the woman that Okada had abused, after being discovered by Okada, Matsunaga pleaded with Okada in order to repay Dr. Sanada's help to him, but found that his power in the gang had been completely taken away by Okada, and finally Matsunaga found Okada with a knife, but was killed instead, but Okada who killed him was also imprisoned and could no longer harass Dr. Sanada.
After Matsunaga's death, he is found by a female patient of Dr. Sanada, who defeats tuberculosis through strong self-control, and Dr. Sanada tells her the meaning of "reason" for people, and in his opinion, Matsunaga's sacrifice is meaningless, and Matsunaga's so-called "benevolence" rules for the gang are like sewage, completely polluted and worthless.
If you think about it, these emotions shown in the film may be a reflection on Japan's evil deeds in World War II, just like the scene where Matsunaga stands by the sewage pond, when the overall situation in Japan is chaotic, everyone is like people in the sewage pond, it is difficult to get rid of the pollution of dirty things, and the death of those Japanese troops is even more meaningless.
Although the moral of this film is OK, but the plot of the movie is indeed not too flattering, because from the title of this film "Muddy Angel", it can be seen that this film is based on the theme of the alcoholic Dr. Sanada, but in the first cooperation between director Akira Kurosawa and Toshiro Mifune, he found the charm of the actor Toshiro Mifune, so he turned the mixed role from a small supporting role into a competitive existence with the protagonist, and the theme of the story deviated a little, and finally two protagonists with distinct images appeared, but the meaning of the story was gradually blurred.
Whether it is the image of a tough guy or the appearance of becoming weak later, Toshiro Mifune is extremely realistic, and this film laid the foundation for Akira Kurosawa's cooperation with Toshiro Mifune for many years after that. This film, whether it is the picture layout, the soundtrack and the image of the characters, has laid the direction of the work of the two people after that, and it is generally worth watching.