A Convergence of Storms

I was watching Kurosawa Akira's 1946 film No Regrets for Our Youth (わが青春に悔なし) again last night. It's the first time I've watched it since reading more about the political situation in Japan in the 1930s. The beginning of the film is based on an incident in 1933 when a professor named Takigawa Yukitoki was threatened with dismissal from Kyoto University after giving a lecture deemed too radical. This sparked a reaction among the students and protests against incursions against free speech. In Kurosawa's film, the students are divided between moderate leftists and outright Communists but they're all actively opposed to fascism, Japan's invasion of Manchuria, and militarism in general. The movie was made under the auspices of the U.S. occupation of Japan so one has to take some of the messaging in the film with a grain of salt and it's worth noting that Kurosawa was unhappy with changes made to the ending of the film.

Still, his dynamic camerawork is already remarkable in this early stage of his career. The rapid sequences of shots of Hara Setsuko are electrifying as Kurosawa frames her as the wild, spiritual counterbalance to the boys' political radicalism. There are few clips on YouTube, this one has French subtitles, but the students are ironically extolling their university's virtues as a haven for free speech and freedom when they're interrupted by the sound of gunshots.

More striking than the gunshots is the angle of Hara's back as she leans on her arms, her head turned away from the camera, before Kurosawa's cut to her face as she turns to face her classmates. Later, there are energetic sequences of her playing piano, low angle shots from behind as she slams the keys, like a goddess of thunder, unable to articulate her displeasure in words. She's magnificent in this movie.

No Regrets for Our Youth is available on The Criterion Channel.