One of Akira Kurosawa's early pictures, this marked the first of sixteen collaborations between the famed Japanese director and actor Toshiro Mifune. The film was made in 1948 during the American occupation of Japan and Kurosawa had to alter his screenplay to please both military and civilian censors. In addition to eliminating any hint of the military occupation by the US Army, nationalistic as well as feudal sentiments were strictly forbidden. The censors were basically looking for democratic themes in which individualism and cooperation were encouraged as opposed to an authoritarian group mentality, so prevalent prior to Japan's defeat in World War II.
Kurosawa's narrative focuses on the conflict between Dr. Sanida (Takashi Shimura), who ministers to lower income clients in a neighborhood fueled by a black market economy and Matsunaga (MIfune), a small-time gangster (Yazuka in Japanese), who reluctantly seeks medical help after being stabbed in the hand and exhibiting symptoms of tuberculosis.
Kurosawa managed to slip in some of the darker elements of Japanese society at the time which was discouraged by the censors. This included prostitutes on the street as well as violent scenes between the Yazuka. The doctor, representing the democratic forces, castigates Matsunaga for his allegiance to the Yazuka "feudalistic" code of honor. Kurosawa was not averse however to criticizing the American occupation.
Many of those in the Japanese film industry were angry with the Americans after they sided with the film companies against the unions despite initially encouraging unionization. Kurowsawa's implicit criticism was subtly made by depicting the Yazuka as being thoroughly westernized. One gets the impression that Kurosawa had a love/hate relationship with the American occupiers. One can view the song he wrote in the nightclub scene-"The Jungle Boogie"-as either a straight parody of a wild African-American 30s jazz number or simply a true homage to American music that most Japanese people embraced.
The first half of the film basically involves Sanida and Matsunaga butting heads over Sanida's insistence that Matsunaga start taking care of himself. To his credit, Kurosawa's "angel" is no angel at all. Dr. Sanida is a curmudgeon, prone to alcohol and is on a crusade to make everyone take their health seriously. But as his female assistant recognizes, Dr. Sanida knows nothing about tact. Matsunaga clearly resents Sanida's sanctimonious attitude especially when he tries to bully him by claiming that he fears a diagnosis that could be fatal.
Indeed Sanida appears correct that Matsunaga is suffering from TB and this is confirmed by Sanida's upscale physician colleague who took X-rays of Matsunaga's chest, revealing a large perforation. Sanida's prescription for rest but told in such an arrogant way, causes Matsunaga to assault the doctor on more than one occasion. These belligerent interchanges go on for a little too long. Matsunaga finally sees the light and admits that Dr. Sanida really was acting in his best interest-despite his lack of manners.
The rest of Drunken Angel concerns the return of another Yazuka, Okada (Reisaburo Yamamoto), recently released after being incarcerated for three years and now looking to rekindle a relationship with Dr. Sanida's assistant. The headstrong Sanida is not intimidated by Okada, a vicious thug, and will not reveal where Okada can find his former flame.
Meanwhile Matsunaga is about to be dispensed with by the big crime boss in favor of Okada, so the two end up in a knife fight in which Matsunaga meets his end. The fight is expertly choreographed--memorable for the two gangsters slipping and sliding on a floor splattered with paint. Matsunaga's death is also visually memorable-as he staggers after receiving Okada's fatal knife wound, laundry on clotheslines flaps in the wind.
The machinations between the Yazuka are pretty standard stuff and one is left unimpressed by the overall level of screenwriting here. While Kurosawa ably doesn't put his curmudgeon doctor up on a pedestal, in the end he's still an "angel," in which health ministries prove positively contrasted with the backward behavior of the Yazuka. Obviously a positive protagonist was needed to satisfy the censors who demanded a good example for a population only a few years earlier under the yoke of a repressive, militaristic government.
The irony of course is that Dr. Sanida, in his crusade to bring good health consciousness to an indifferent populace, can go overboard by insisting that his medical education gives him an exclusive monopoly on treatment. People no longer can make judgements about their own health when the "expert" stands above them and dictates how they should behave. While Sanida might have been right about Matsunaga and his health situation, the fact remains a man like Sanida cannot always be right-although he might feel his medical degree confers a distinct aura of entitlement. The appellation of "angel" here is incorrect despite Kurosawa's modest attempt to humanize his protagonist.
Kurosawa's narrative focuses on the conflict between Dr. Sanida (Takashi Shimura), who ministers to lower income clients in a neighborhood fueled by a black market economy and Matsunaga (MIfune), a small-time gangster (Yazuka in Japanese), who reluctantly seeks medical help after being stabbed in the hand and exhibiting symptoms of tuberculosis.
Kurosawa managed to slip in some of the darker elements of Japanese society at the time which was discouraged by the censors. This included prostitutes on the street as well as violent scenes between the Yazuka. The doctor, representing the democratic forces, castigates Matsunaga for his allegiance to the Yazuka "feudalistic" code of honor. Kurosawa was not averse however to criticizing the American occupation.
Many of those in the Japanese film industry were angry with the Americans after they sided with the film companies against the unions despite initially encouraging unionization. Kurowsawa's implicit criticism was subtly made by depicting the Yazuka as being thoroughly westernized. One gets the impression that Kurosawa had a love/hate relationship with the American occupiers. One can view the song he wrote in the nightclub scene-"The Jungle Boogie"-as either a straight parody of a wild African-American 30s jazz number or simply a true homage to American music that most Japanese people embraced.
The first half of the film basically involves Sanida and Matsunaga butting heads over Sanida's insistence that Matsunaga start taking care of himself. To his credit, Kurosawa's "angel" is no angel at all. Dr. Sanida is a curmudgeon, prone to alcohol and is on a crusade to make everyone take their health seriously. But as his female assistant recognizes, Dr. Sanida knows nothing about tact. Matsunaga clearly resents Sanida's sanctimonious attitude especially when he tries to bully him by claiming that he fears a diagnosis that could be fatal.
Indeed Sanida appears correct that Matsunaga is suffering from TB and this is confirmed by Sanida's upscale physician colleague who took X-rays of Matsunaga's chest, revealing a large perforation. Sanida's prescription for rest but told in such an arrogant way, causes Matsunaga to assault the doctor on more than one occasion. These belligerent interchanges go on for a little too long. Matsunaga finally sees the light and admits that Dr. Sanida really was acting in his best interest-despite his lack of manners.
The rest of Drunken Angel concerns the return of another Yazuka, Okada (Reisaburo Yamamoto), recently released after being incarcerated for three years and now looking to rekindle a relationship with Dr. Sanida's assistant. The headstrong Sanida is not intimidated by Okada, a vicious thug, and will not reveal where Okada can find his former flame.
Meanwhile Matsunaga is about to be dispensed with by the big crime boss in favor of Okada, so the two end up in a knife fight in which Matsunaga meets his end. The fight is expertly choreographed--memorable for the two gangsters slipping and sliding on a floor splattered with paint. Matsunaga's death is also visually memorable-as he staggers after receiving Okada's fatal knife wound, laundry on clotheslines flaps in the wind.
The machinations between the Yazuka are pretty standard stuff and one is left unimpressed by the overall level of screenwriting here. While Kurosawa ably doesn't put his curmudgeon doctor up on a pedestal, in the end he's still an "angel," in which health ministries prove positively contrasted with the backward behavior of the Yazuka. Obviously a positive protagonist was needed to satisfy the censors who demanded a good example for a population only a few years earlier under the yoke of a repressive, militaristic government.
The irony of course is that Dr. Sanida, in his crusade to bring good health consciousness to an indifferent populace, can go overboard by insisting that his medical education gives him an exclusive monopoly on treatment. People no longer can make judgements about their own health when the "expert" stands above them and dictates how they should behave. While Sanida might have been right about Matsunaga and his health situation, the fact remains a man like Sanida cannot always be right-although he might feel his medical degree confers a distinct aura of entitlement. The appellation of "angel" here is incorrect despite Kurosawa's modest attempt to humanize his protagonist.