Barbarossa

It is common knowledge that many things changed for Kurosawa after this film. A breakdown, the loss of working friendship with Mifune, funding difficulties...etc...but with all the changes that followed the completion of Red Beard, while watching I couldn't help notice that everything was ironically in bloom. Akira Kurosawa's direction was never better, Mifune never acted better and at it's core Red Beard tells a story borrowed heavily form Dostoevsky, thus making this a labour of love. This film is flawless in many respects, if you're a film student, such as myself, you can take everything and pick it apart and find...The story is a simple one, a wise and determined doctor impresses a young ambitious doctor into learning what humanity is and how it exists all around us and that without it we are nothing. It tells of humanity through children and adults and the lowest depths of human existence. Some have argued the subject was a little too heavy handed but Kurosawa has always maintained that sometimes heavy handedness is needed especially for those who don't get it with a slap. In my opinion, there are periods in every artists career when they are at their best. Miles Davis was at his best before his breakdown, but the breakdown was bound to happen after creating and giving so much. I feel this is what happened to Kurosawa, he gave all that he could give and with this film, if you truly study it and study it well, (the DVD version comes with an exceptional commentary) you will find that this is one of the most finely crafted films in cinematic history, in fact as far as direction goes, it is difficult for me to think of one better directed. Fellini's best, Ozu's best, Coppola's best, Welles' best, Antonioni, Visconti, De Sica, Goddard, Renoir, Melville, Erice, you name it, watch their best with the sound off take note of the direction then compare it with RED BEARD. You will be left breathless. Kurosawa is a GREAT among the GREATS. This is visual poetry. Kurosawa's great directorial swan song. Bittersweet, for after RED BEARD something within Akira profoundly changed.

In the Nineteenth Century, in Japan, the arrogant and proud just-graduated Dr. Noboru Yasumoto (Yuzo Kayama) is forced to work in the Koshikawa Clinic, a non-profit health facility ruled by Dr. Kyojio Niide (Toshirô Mifune), a.k.a. "Red Beard". "Red Beard" is a good, sentimental, but also very firm, strong and fair man. While in the clinic, Dr. Yasumoto becomes responsible for healing the hurt teenager Otoyo (Terumi Niki), and he learns a lesson of humanity, becoming a better man.

"Akahige" is another magnificent work of Master Akira Kurosawa. The touching and low-paced story is very beautiful, and shows the redemption of a spoiled man that becomes a human being, learning important and worthwhile values of life. It is almost impossible to highlight one individual performance in such a spectacular cast, but Toshirô Mifune shows his versatility in the role of the good "Red Beard". The 185 running time, with intermission, does not make any part of this interesting story boring, and this film is highly recommended for any sensitive audience. My vote is nine.

Title (Brazil): "O Barba Ruiva" ("The Red Beard")

First of all let me say that this film is a real tear jerker. If you want to see a film that talks about compassion then you are going to want to see this film. In a world where pettiness abounds to see the big-hearted nature of the main characters and how such compassion literally changes people for the better -- you're going to want to see this film.

For years I avoided this film (like IKIRU) because it was not a samurai film. But after getting over those ridiculous reasons, I finally figured I needed to complete my Kurosawa education by seeing it.

And boy was I glad I did.

It is one of those films that does change you. Like every classic it stands the test of time not because of its entertainment value but because it is a great experience. Even months after seeing the film the first time I found myself always examining my own life against the noble attitudes of the main characters.

Yes, it's three hours long. And yes, you're going to want to spend time to digest it. But the three hours you devote to this film is worth it. If you loved TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, you're going to love this film.

This was the sixth Kurosawa film I ever saw, in a film-viewing binge that began with Seven Samurai and has yet to satiate me. It did, however, mark a turning point for me as it did for him.

Up to then, I had only seen the B&W Samurai classics of the 50s and early 60s. The must-sees: not just Seven Samurai, but Yojimbo and Throne of Blood. The under-appreciated Sanjuro, and the light but enduring Hidden Fortress. This was my first non-samurai film from him. What I did not realise until later was that it was his career apotheosis.

Red Beard is not Kurosawa's best film. Yet when it came out, it was a phenomenon much like Titanic 30 years later. It broke the bank, it was an exercise in unprecedented creative and financial power by a major filmmaker, and it appealed to filmgoers like few filmes before or since. Kurosawa built a hospice and miniature village for his characters to inhabit, and this episodic story of a young star doctor discovering a vocation among the poor under the gruff "red beard" (Mifune) feels all the more authentic for it. It is a film of such deliberate ease and confidence that it could only be made by this director, at this point in his career. It could not be anything less than the fullest exploration of his most cherished themes - social injustice, the redemptive power of human kindness, personal codes. It could also do nothing but foreshadow his decline.

That's a lot of expectation to pile onto the unsuspecting viewer, so what do you get during those 3 hours? You get a first-class drama, Mifune's finest performance, and one of the most beautiful tear-jerkers ever to grace a screen. All the while, countless instances of technical brilliance remind you why this film could only be made by this director: a surgery covered in nothing but an extended closeup of the young doctor, an eerie seduction covered in an almost static, dreamlike wide shot, and, halfway through, the ass-kicking of a life-time and its touching follow-up.

This is an extinct form of filmmaking, one preserved in the ember of its stark black-and-white film stock. The cinematic equivalent of a Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton: there are ways in which you won't relate, but it is daunting, powerful, and a journey into an intriguing other world well worth spending 3 hours in, and then some.

This film is practically never mentioned when Akira Kursawas best films are listed. I think this film should be at least one of the first three of such a list! I do love most of his films very much and my private choice of his best film is always this one. I saw it only once, maybe 20 years ago, but the memory of it is still very strong,. Some scenes burned their image into my mind forever! When I saw it at a small art house cinema here in Vienna, Austria, it was like a lovely dream you want to go on and on. I left the cinema thinking I just saw the best film of my life.

True, it not comparable with the story telling masterpiece Rashomon or the complex Seven Samurai. The film does not feature new ways of telling a story. But I think it is Kurosawas most human legacy in a body of work which is rich of statements on humanity. and human weaknesses and strengths. Looking at any list of current films in the cinemas today one can only wish there would be much more films like Red Beard. Films like that can influence the way we see the world, like the current films packed with violence already do. It would be a much better world for sure!

I don't go so far as to single out any part of the story. I would wish every one would see the film as I did, knowing nothing about it except the title and the director. The film speaks for itself.