No regrets for my youth

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Movie
German title No regrets for my youth
Original title Waga Seishun Ni Kuinashi
Country of production Japan
original language Japanese
Publishing year 1946
length 110 minutes
Rod
Director Akira Kurosawa
script Eijirō Hisaita ,
Akira Kurosawa ,
Keiji Matsuzaki
production Keiji Matsuzaki
music Tadashi Hattori
cut Akira Kurosawa
occupation

No regrets for my youth (original title: わ が 青春 に 悔 な し , Waga seishun ni kuinashi ) is a drama filmed by Akira Kurosawa in Japan in 1946 . It was produced by Tōhō and is Kurosawa's first film after Japan's defeat in World War II.

action

Yukie, the spoiled and rather naive daughter of Professor Yagihara, is courted by two of his students, Ryukichi Noge and Itokawa, but cannot choose between them. Professor Yagihara is suspended from university service because of his liberal views, Noge joins a left-wing democratic student organization and is arrested during a demonstration, while Itokawa turns away and enters the civil service. Yukie leaves her parents' house and moves to Tokyo, where after a few years she meets Itokawa, who is now married. He brings her together with Noge, who also lives in Tokyo. They both get married and Yukie can learn a lot, especially about herself, in her relationship with Noge. Noge is arrested again because of his political involvement, this time with Yukie, and dies in prison under foreign influence. Yukie is released and visits Noge's parents, who live as rice farmers in a village. Due to the political activities of their son, both are shunned in the village community and sometimes bullied. Through hard work and unwavering will, Yukie eventually wins the approval of both and manages to strengthen her character.

No regrets for my youth as a concept film

Concept films are a branch of film demanded by the American occupiers in post-war Japan. In general, their main intention was to educate the Japanese people about the basic principles of Western democracy. In keeping with these goals, the focus of the film is the motto of “Freedom and Responsibility”, which plays a central role especially for Yukie, who increasingly emancipates herself in the course of the film and thus becomes an example of the democratization of Japan.

backgrounds

The "I regret nothing" based on Waga seishun ni kuinashi became a catchphrase of its time and was used repeatedly in the media of the time. Kurosawa regretted a lot about the film. The film was made between the two major strikes of the Tōhō , between February and October 1946, in two months of work. A victory in the first strike gave the Tōhō company union a strong increase in power. The number of KP members increased, which gave their voice much more weight in matters of film production. They set up a script review committee. Kurosawa was forced to rewrite his script and make a revised version. This was done for two reasons. First, at the same time, there was a script that had been submitted with a similar subject matter. Kurosawa felt that these two scripts approached the subject in very different ways, and therefore would make two different films. The committee rejected this, but some members agreed to it after filming was finished. Second, land reform and the dissolution of large Japanese corporations by the GHQ set up by the American occupiers took place in the post-war period . Therefore, Kurosawa was compelled by the corporate union of the Tōhō to include this with. He did this in the last third of his film. Ultimately, however, this film is something special for him, because during the war it had been impossible for him to bring out the fullness of youth, as the carefree feelings of youth were seen as the mental state of British and American effeminacy.

literature

  • Yomota Inuhiko: In the realm of the senses. 100 years of Japanese film. Frankfurt 2007
  • Akira Kurosawa: Something like an autobiography. Berlin 1989
  • Yoshimoto Mitsuhiro: Kurosawa. Film Studies and Japanese Cinema. Durham 2001
  • Keiko Yamane: Japanese cinema: history, films, directors. Munich 1985

Web links