Red Beard story
Red Beard (赤ひげ, Akahige) is a 1965 Japanese film directed by Akira Kurosawa about the relationship between a town doctor and his new trainee. The film was based on Shūgorō Yamamoto's short story collection, Akahige shinryōtan (赤ひげ診療譚). Fyodor Dostoevsky's novel Humiliated and Insulted provided the source for a subplot about a young girl, Otoyo (Terumi Niki), who is rescued from a brothel. The film looks at the problem of social injustice and explores two of Kurosawa's favourite topics: humanism and existentialism.
21 total · 4 choice · 9 major · 8 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| compassion | choice | Yasumoto came to learn compassion for the poor people in the village where he was stationed; several other characters showed remarkable compassion |
| growing as a person | choice | through the example of Red Beard, Yasumoto learned that he had been selfish and arrogant and resolved to better himself |
| medical occupation | choice | Red Beard was a devoted physician and Yasumoto learned to be the same. We saw how things might have been like in a 19th century Japanese village clinic. |
| mentor and protégé | choice | Red Beard and Yasumoto |
| attitude of superiority | major | Yasumoto started out thinking that he was destined for the court and that tending to a mere village was beneath him on account of both his connections and his education |
| childhood trauma | major | several girls told of bad things that had been done to them when they were kids |
| dysfunctional upbringing | major | several characters told stories of growing up with poverty and abuse, one in a brothel |
| healthcare in society | major | we saw how healthcare worked albeit poorly, in 19th century Japan |
| lesson in humility | major | Yasumoto had a series of such lessons: girl trying to kill him, old man dying, operation |
| poverty in society | major | we saw how society treated the poor in 19th century Japan |