hi, i just watched this last night the subtitles kinda confusing, i just have a question, at the end did okada also died or is he captured by the police? the town seems peaceful at the end.
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akira
I don't think Okada dies - as far as I can see Matsunaga does him no harm at all, apart from frightening him and covering him in paint. It's not even clear whether Matsu dies of the knife wound or of his disease; he is in a state of collapse and trying to crawl away from the fight when Okada finally manages to stab him, isn't he?
The film ends as the doctor and the young girl walk away from camera and are lost in the market crowds. The town is the just same as before; nothing has changed. Presumably Boss is still in charge and someone else will take over this bit of his territory, that's all. Kurosawa is not an optimist.
Kambei of the Descending Gormful Bedafter Gumi.
Okada is put back in jail. That is mentioned by the waitress when she is chatting with the doctor.
I disagree that there is NO optimism. Yes, the final shot is of the two figures, the girl and the doctor, being swallowed up by the crowd, but what happens just before that final shot is pivotal. The doctor is cheered up by the young girl who has been cured of her TB. Much weight is given to their conversation. Note how Kurosawa films the girl. She is a symbol of hope, albeit just one person, one face in the crowd, you could say.
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Yes, you're right, as ever, Gorobei. "It's an ugly world but we can try to make the best of it" is perhaps what he's saying. And thanks, Mera, I hadn't remembered that they mention what happened to Okada. Not that we care - he's one of Kurosawa's nastiest characters. He and Nanae, what a pair!
It does make me smile that they and the Boss and his lady are all playing Mah Jongg when Matsu turns up - a fun touch.
Kambei of the Descending Gormful Bedafter Gumi.
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OK, I'll go and have a look.
I don't watch Kobayashi's work all that frequently because it's so very tragic - I don't watch Ran as often as I might, for the same reason.
Kambei of the Descending Gormful Bedafter Gumi.
Err, that's KUROSAWA, not Kobayashi....
(Watched The Usual Suspects once too often, or what?!?)
Hey Sphynx, I do know the difference! I was replying to something said in the post just above mine, which was subsequently deleted. The poster was comparing Yoidore Tenshi with something of Kobayashi's - I can't remember which, this exchange was quite a long time ago, but it was probably Seppuku. I think we were talking about optimism and pessimism - Kobayashi makes Kurosawa look like Pollyanna. Hence my saying that I don't watch Kobayashi as much as I might.
Ah. I hadn't seen the deleted post, so the reference to Kobayashi seemed to come out of nowhere.
I saw Seppuku a few months ago, though I hadn't noted the director. If that's representative of his work, you're absolutely correct. But I guess it's always nice to know what directors and films to go to when you're in the mood for a two-razorblade special (something so exquisitely depressing that you want to be able to slash both wrists simultaneously, instead of each in turn, like Requiem for a Dream).
It was my post that was deleted by an admin. I completely forgot what I said three years ago, but Suzume-San surmised correctly, I'm sure.
Samurai Rebellion has a warmer tone (Ha!) than Seppuku, but it's still all doom and gloom.
I recall Yoidore Tenshi as having one of the least clear themes of any of Kurosawa's films; but I chalk that up to Mifune's performance stealing the thunder from the drunken doctor.
Give them the respect they deserve.
DCAC! Abayo!
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It seems to me that with the exception of films taken from literary sources (The Idiot, Throne of Blood) Kurosawa was striving for optimistic endings to most of his pictures through Red Beard (1965). He then appears to have entered a period of deep pessimism with films like Dersu Uzala, Kagemusha, and Ran. In his final pictures, he regained some of his earlier optimism. And yet, for me, Ran and Kagemusha are his masterpieces!
shareYes, I think that's very true, Ancientnut, well said. The earlier work ususally ends if not optimistically then at least with a sort of balance achieved, life goes on.
After Red Beard, apparently, life doesn't go on, we are left with wind, rain and ruins, alas.
Kambei of the Gormful Gumi.
Okada is captured by the Police and arrested... Again heheh
shareKurosawa isn't an optimist, but I'm not sure if he's a pure pessimist either. His films tend to have dark elements often which reflect (social) issues of contemporary Japan.
The ending for Drunken Angel seems highly optimistic, but this wasn't the ending that Kurosawa had envisioned for the film. The American forces occupying post-War Japan censored all the films, and they didn't like the original ending that Kurosawa wanted. The original showed Matsunaga with a nicer casket and funeral than Okada (meaning that Okada died as well).
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When I watch the end, I always wonder about the doctor who takes a few eggs "for patients." Not only was this the same excuse he gave the clinic director for needing more alcohol, but helping one's self to the merchandise is the hallmark trait of a Yakuza.
shareWell, maybe, but tuberculosis patients were treated with a course of high-protein foods, in a country where the staple diet was rice and vegetables. Remember that his henchmen are told to give him milk? No, I think the eggs are for Matsunaga; a touching moment. There's no indication that the doctor's not paying for them.
Kambei of the Gormful Gumi.
"For patients" is the reason the doctor isn't paying for the eggs. I recall him putting eggs in his pockets and I don't recall him paying any money for them. When he spoke with the clinic director, the alcoholic doctor said he needed more alcohol because he had used all the other on patients. In those days, doctors apparently used ethyl alcohol, the type that you can drink, not methyl alcohol, the type that you cannot drink.
Earlier in the film, when Matsunaga brings his chest x-ray by and the drunken doctor throws him out, the doctor laments that Matsunaga reminded him of himself as a youth. Was the doctor also a gangster?
What caused the doctor to believe that he could take a Yakuza's wife and survive?
Why didn't the big gangster, Kong, kill the doctor at their confrontation?
I believe that the doctor was attempting to heal Matsunaga, but not at risk to himself. Kong accepted the doctor because -- he had TB just like Matsunaga! Look closely when he is covered with paint in the fight scene -- he and Matsunaga both gasp for breath because they are both TB victims. Kong is an even more likely TB sufferer since he just finished a long stretch in a wartime Japanese prison.
Based on his prior experience with gangsters as a youth and on his recent experience with the Yakuza, shouldn't the doctor have known that calling the police would cause Matsunaga to flee and settle the conflict himself?
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just watched this. the doctor absolutely bought the eggs for matsunaga. no doubt about it
share1) Just because they didn't film every second of the transaction doesn't mean the doctor took the eggs for free.
2) The doctor didn't put the eggs in his pockets, as a matter of fact. He walked away holding them carefully in both hands so they wouldn't break.
3) There are many ways a person could remind the doctor of himself as a youth, other than by the doctor having been a gangster. The hot temper and alcoholism would be two.
4) There's no indication that the woman was the Yakuza's wife: my impression was that she was his mistress. He had no legal right to her, just whatever he could exert on her by personality, force, nostalgia, or fear.
5) I think Kong was amused at his presumption and inclined to let it slide for the moment, so as to keep Matsunaga alive for further use (as he indicated clearly later on with Matsunaga eavesdropping).
6) Kong may have had TB, or he may have been gasping from the exertion of fighting with a desperate man who was pulling out all the stops. It's unclear.
I give you the last point, though. The Doc should've known better than to leave Matsunaga without tying his butt firmly to the bed.
In my German translation it was not the same excuse used twice; he said he wanted the alcohol "for patients", but when he bought the eggs he said "I need them for a severely ill patient"; that's why I thought this a very touching moment of the film. We'd need someone who speaks Japanese to finally settle this.
Regards, Rosabel
Someone else commented that Okada was sent back to prison, a detail that the woman in the closing scene adds in her conversation with the doctor. There was also a recent question about the 150 minute film and the 98 minute version. Apparently, there were 52 minutes omitted from the final released version, but the final script was approved by the occupation censors before shooting began. The story has a good pace and it isn't loose. Most story lines are completed.
in my 98 minute version:
a) sanada buys the eggs for a very ill patient
b) okada won't be charge with murder, because he defended himself.
Well, there is some optimism other than the little girl. We can assume that the nurse will be free of Okada for quite some time. And other than simply pride, it seemed to me that Matsunaga was also attempting to rid the doctor and the nurse of Okada since he had grown fond of their help and wanted to pay back his debt.
Which reminded me a bit of Eastwood's Gran Torino. There were even some very similar scenes.
I have just seen Drunken Angel and I had the clear impression that Matsunaga died during the knife fight with Okada. Almost at the end, when the doctor is near the dump lake talking to that woman (I forgot her name) they clearly talk about Matsunaga burial.
shareYes, of course we know that Matsunaga died, Kamal - the young woman is actually carrying the urn containing his ashes. What we've been discussing on this thread is what happened to Okada, the yakuza boss Matsunaga was fighting.
shareWhen Sanada talks to the woman who loved Matsunaga, she said that the big boss claimed Matsunaga was not loyal enough to rate a funeral, but the big boss did solicit contributions for Okada since he was being sent back to prison.
share