Dreams

Dreams is a film by Japanese director Akira Kurosawa. There are eight dreams in this movie but I will only talks about the seven that I have seen. The first dream is called Sunshine Through The Rain and it is about a boy who goes into the forest against his mother’s wishes to see the foxes wedding. He is seen by the foxes and runs away. When he arrives home, his mother tells him he must commit suicide or he can ask for the fox’s forgiveness.

The second dream is called The Peach Orchard and it is about a little boy who chases a ghost into the destroyed peach orchard. The ghost tells him that it is his fault and that he should pay for what has been done. He tells the ghost the he loved the orchard and one of the ghost believes him. They dance around for like five minuets and flower pedals float around on the screen. The Orchard is now repaired but when the boy runs to it they are all destroyed again except for one.

The third dream I saw was called The tunnel and it is about a solder who sees his dead army again. They till think he is in charge and he tries to tell them that they are dead and need to return back to where they belong. The fourth dream is called Crows and it is about a art student who finds himself lost in Vincent Van Gogh’s art paintings.

Mount Fuji in Red is about a nuclear power plant that has a meltdown next to Mount Fuji. Mount Fuji erupts and sends the people of Japan fleeing to the ocean. Three people are still alive but realize that death is inevitable. The Weeping demon is about mutated human that is growing horns on his head and explaining what has happened because of the nuclear holocaust and plants are growing enormous and the mutants must feed on the weak.

The last dream is called Village of the Watermills and it is about a man who stumbles on to a small simplistic village. He talks to and old man and the old mans explains how we should not depend on technology to live a healthier happier life. At the end we see a funereal and no one is morning. Everyone is celebrating for the life this person has lived.

The theme in dreams seems to be antiwar and environmentalism. We should look at life in a different way and repay Mother Nature for all that she has given us. We should never take what we have for granted because tomorrow, it may not be there. It also reflects the impact the nuclear bombing had on Japan.

I would not watch this movie again. I actually found it quiet boring and too experimental for my taste. I understand that they are suppose be dreams and sometimes dreams don make much sense, but I felt this movie took it to another level. The peach orchard dream was very strange to me. I felt the whole dancing ghost scene could have been cut down a bit because I lost interest one what they were doing. Granted this film reflects Japanese culture so maybe I wouldn’t understand. This movie is very much only for a selective group. Nonetheless, it was very well made and put together, but overall its just not my type of movie.