Rhapsody in August (1991)

"Rhapsody in August" (1991) is Akira Kurosawa's next to last film. It belongs to Kurosawa's final period of film-making when he moved away from themes such as samurai stories and historic eras of Japan and focused on issues such as the Second World War and its effect on the lives of ordinary people in Japan. The title of this film is a reference to August 9, 1945, when the atomic bomb fell on Nagasaki.

"Rhapsody in August" tells the story of four young girls and boys who visit their grandmother in a village near Nagasaki for their summer vacation. She is one of the survivors of the atomic bomb fell on Nagasaki during the war but she lost her husband in the atomic bomb attack. It is through her that her grandchildren learn about the atomic bomb attack and how it killed their grandfather. The children's parents have gone to Hawaii to visit the grandmother's elder brother, who had married an American woman and lived there since then.

The film shows how the children's indifference and disrespect for their grandmother gradually turns into understanding and respect for the sufferings she has gone through. We are allowed to explore the Nagasaki catastrophe through the grandmother's point of view and its aftermath through the children's view, who come to show much more understanding for the catastrophic event than their parents, who only seem to care about not raising the issue of the atomic bomb on fear that it might upset their American relatives and deprive them from their enterprise.

Although the film, in several occasions, makes direct criticism against the US over the Nagasaki atomic bomb attack, it is mostly through the grandmother's powerful and vivid recollections of the war, and the children's understanding of the events, that the depth of people's sufferings and the cruelty of the act -- the atomic bomb attack -- are seen. One great example is when the grandmother compares the mushroom cloud of the atomic bomb to a great eye watching over the city.

The grandmother is the living soul of all the pains caused by the atomic bomb and Kurosawa, all through the film and particularly in its iconic ending, well reminds us that time might not heal all wounds.

Fmovies: I have seen this film many times. This morning I watched it again and was deeply moved, but in a more personal way this time, in watching the scenes first of the children visiting the site of their grandfather's death in Nagasaki, and then later watching the scene where the classmates of the children killed by the Bomb came to make the yearly pilgrimage to the memorial of twisted metal that had once been a playground jungle gym, so that they could replant the flowerbed and repolish the memorial plaque. I hope that the City of New York can create such a living memorial to those who died on September 11, 2001. I would recommend viewing this film again, if you have already seen it, or certainly for the first time, if you have not seen it, as it carries a very powerful message.

A beautiful, beautiful film. If you only know Kurosawa through Seven Samurai then this will come as something of a shock. Gentle, sensitive, moving and uplifting. The cinematography is sumptuous with plenty of touches that let you know that this is no ordinary film maker. By far the best of his later films in my opinion.

Don't be confused by the 'starring Richard Gere' tag. He only has a minor part, though he takes it well.

Just go and see it!

Rhapsody in August fmovies. Although aware of Akira Kurosawa's standing in the realm of world cinema,I have never been a great fanatic of his films as most of them are Samurai films heavily laden with symbolic references to Japanese society.For me Akira Kurosawa's non Samurai films are better films as they speak of deeper issues like human sentiments.I watched "Rhapsody in August" directed by Akira Kurosawa film with rapt attention.As I was watching it after having watched "Madadayo",I could not help but comparing it both in style as well as content with that film.Both the films were made by Kurosawa when he was at the end of his career and may be for this reason he chose to make humanist stories.Rhapsody in August is a meaningful tale for all people whether they are young or old,American or Japanese.It is a film which shows how important a family is and how wisdom must be passed from the old to the young. Kurosawa has deftly tackled the question of Japan's Atomic bomb tragedy through plain words spoken by an old lady who tells her young grandchildren that with the passage of time all wounds are healed.Rhapsody in August tells us albeit in a non academic manner why it is important to live peacefully thereby avoiding war for the benefit of peaceful coexistence and human society.

If this is a "weak" movie by Akira Kurosawa, then I can imagine how great a "strong" one is. Perhaps it is uncharacteristic of his work. So what? Must it be a samurai epic to be great? What Samurai epics by Kurosawa that I have seen are spectacular.

The elements of great drama are all here. An old woman who had lost her husband in the atom bomb explosion at Nagasaki discovers that she has a brother who had emigrated to Hawaii seventy years earlier, had become an American citizen, and had married a woman not of Japanese origin through correspondence that her grandchildren had with their uncle's son (Richard Gere). The old woman has demons with which to contend -- The Bomb, the military defeat which must have seared the esteem of every Japanese of the time, the intrusion of American culture into Japanese life, her children who have become insufferably petty and materialistic... ...Sure, Richard Gere is not one of my favorite actors, but he plays the role of someone 'just visiting' who speaks broken Japanese. That minor role mercifully stretches his limited acting talents little..

The treatment of Nagasaki as two worlds -- one lost, one all-new -- seems to tell me much about the Japanese, at least of the children's generation. Maybe the children can save the memory of the significance of the changes in Japan since 1945, if not the events themselves.

The confusing ending prevents me from giving a "10/10" rating. Not since the Civil War have any Americans have experienced anything remotely similar to the events in this story in America. It's beautifully done, and it is gripping for someone who has no ties to Japan. It reminds me in some respects of "Gone With the Wind" without the objectionable features of racism, catty characters as protagonists, or perverse sentimentality of a rotten social order such as the one that Japan had before 1945. If GWTW gets an "8" from me, then "Rhapsody in August" gets a "9".

Equipped only with a blown out umbrella twisted into the shape of a flower, an old lady, like some ancient Samurai warrior, braves a blinding rainstorm to plea for ending the inhumanity of war. One of his most lyrical and poetic works, Akira Kurosawa's second to last film, Rhapsody in August is about four young Japanese teenagers who stay with their grandmother one summer near Nagasaki and learn about the atomic destruction of their city on August 9, 1945. The film is both a lament for the suffering caused by militarism and an outcry against the world's collective loss of memory.

When the children visit their elderly grandmother, Kané (86-year old Sachiko Murase), she tells them that their grandfather died in the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, an event in their country's history that they know very little about. Concerned that the teenagers cannot understand the suffering that had occurred, and the possibility of such an event occurring again, Kané relates personal stories about her experience on that terrible day. Building bridges between generations through her stories, she is able to have the children look past the consumerist values instilled in them by their parents and discover both their countries heritage and the values in life that are most important. As the old woman tells each tale, the children are both curious and moved by their power and mysticism and visit the sites she describes in her stories.

They see the decaying remains of two old trees intertwined forever after a lightning storm. They visit the school yard where their grandfather died and see what is left of a jungle gym, now a pile of melted twisted metal that has become a memorial to those children and adults that suffered and died on that day. The film is haunted by Kané's attempt to cope with the emotional consequences of the bombing, an event that most are unable to remember, but that she is unable to forget. She tells the story of her younger brother, a painter, who could only paint eyes, specifically a large red eye, the "eye of the flash" that signaled the disaster in which 39,000 people were killed and an estimated 75,000 died years after.

The children's parents have gone to visit Kané's brother who emigrated tom Hawaii in 1920 to run a pineapple plantation and married a Caucasian American. One of ten brothers, Sujijiro, now in failing health, wants to see his sister before he dies but she is reluctant to go in spite of the urging of the children who drool over pictures of her brother's affluent surroundings. When the parents return from Hawaii, wishing to establish good relations with the wealthy Hawaiian family, they try to persuade Kané to go. When Clark (Richard Gere), Sujijiro's son, flies to Nagasaki, the parents are sure it is because he wants to end the proposed visit, resenting the implication that America caused his Uncle's death.

When Clark arrives, however, the family discovers the opposite. Although Gere does not look the part of a Japanese-American, his warmth, sincerity, and passion for peace more than compensate and his time in the film is one of the highlights. He first expresses his remorse for his uncle's death in the bombing and visits the shrines in Nagasaki with the four children and their parents. Some critics say the film alludes only to the dropping of the atomic bomb and not to any of the events that preceded it, including the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor. However, it is clearly Kurosawa's intention to dramatize the futility of war, not