Review of The Idiot (1951) by Kurosawa

The Idiot is a movie made by Kurosawa, in 1951, based on a Dostoevsky's novel by the same name. It's one of Kurosawa's movie that is always criticized or ignored. The film was 4 hours 25 minutes long, but it was cut down to 2 hours 46 minutes by the studio, which made Kurosawa really angry. The film was a failure in Japan, this fact and the shorten of the film made Kurosawa rethink about balancing between the commercial and the artistic, so it could be said that The Idiot was the last 100% true film of Kurosawa; after this it came The Seven Samurai that was a truly masterpiece and was aimed at what the audience really wanted at that time.

The film starts with a man, Kameda, crying on a wagon due to a nightmare, he then is asked by Akama what's up with him and he relates how he escaped death and that he was in a US hospital for "idiocy", he was diagnosed with epileptic dementia. The story goes on and they reach a town where they see the picture of a woman, Taeku Nasu; this woman will be the roots of all problems through out the whole movie. Kameda, due to his illness, is like a child and he's treated like that almost every time in the movie, with a few exceptions like Taeku who praises him like an angel; because he's like a child he never lies and it's always compliant and good who will do more bad than good in the movie.

Although this film isn't perfect and it was shorten by the studio, it has some remarkable scenes and elements in it. One of those remarkable things it has it's the atmosphere of the whole movie, it depicts perfectly what you'd feel reading a Dostoevsky's novel, the misery, the struggle, the pain are in the air and it can be felt just by watching the first scenes. The movie was shot in Japan, but the view is very similar to that of Russia. The film is character-driven most of the time which isn't bad, but there is some over acting which can make it kinda forced and phony sometimes.

I give this movie a solid 8 out of 10, I really like it and this movie brings my two favorite things from two different worlds: Kurosawa and Dostoevsky. It isn't perfect, of course, but it is worth watching.

What do you think about it? Did you like it? Do you think society corrupted Kameda or he remained the same through out the whole movie?