With "Dodes 'Ka-Den," Akira Kurosawa goes against the grain in depicting a shantytown, with only a handful scenes set outside of its boundary, by not going the neorealist route. Instead of muting the color schemes to make the situation look as bleak as possible, the color palette here is as bright as possible to
connote a vibrant, if struggling, community. This does not mean he is romanticizing or glamorizing the lives of the denizens, as the tragedies and heartbreaks of their daily lives take center stage in a series of vignettes.
And the first scene of "Dodes 'Ka-Den" sets the stage for everything else that follows with a young man(Yoshitaka Zushi) praying with his mother(Kin Sugai) before going off to work. But it is an imaginary job, as he only dreams of driving a trolley(dreams play a huge role in the movie), venturing away from home as the viewer is introduced to his fellow characters. With him, Akira Kurosawa seems to be saying that as long as he is not hurting anyone, where is the harm? This stands for the other characters, too, despite their flaws and handicaps.
May 17, 2010
