Ikiru

Year: 1952Director: KUROSAWA Akira

Ikiru is a film directed by KUROSAWA Akira. It tells the story of Watanabe, a bureaucrat who has been working the same job pushing papers for over 25 years. Upon being diagnosed with stomach cancer, Watanabe comes to the realization that he has not accomplished anything with his life. He frantically tries to find the meaning of living first by experiencing the Tokyo nightlife. Unsatisfied with the results, he asks a coworker for her secret to being happy. She reveals that she left her job in order to make toys, because it makes her feel like she can play with all of Japan's children. This inspires Watanabe to use his last six months to go through the bureaucratic system in order to build a playground. Watanabe passes away about halfway through the movie. In the last half of the film, his coworkers and family attempt to figure out why it was that he decided to do this. In the end, they resolve to be better people like Watanabe, but we are left with an image of the new chief officer pushing papers, as Watanabe was.

Topics for Discussion

• stages of Watanabe's last few months

• experimental approach to determining the meaning of life

• Japanese bureaucracy

External Links

1. "Ikiru" at Wikipedia.

2. "Ikiru (1952)" at IMDB.