A tale of a former soldier that was alluded to as “idiot” because of his epileptic seizures caused by traumatic wartime experiences. He had exhibited unbridled compassion for family and friends as he tried his best to reach out to two people from different worlds. A man ruined by wartime and a woman hounded by an affluent but cruel suitor. All the characters in the story were victims of war, as well as emotional aftershocks. By the way, this movie was adapted from the novel of Feodor Dostoyevsky’s classic novel of the same title.
Akira Kurosawa’s “The Idiot” was pretty much as thing of the past nowadays. The mere reason behind this bitter fact was that it had seriously FLAWED. First, an exactly 100 minutes were removed prior to the film’s release. In order to compensate for this mistake of the noted director, Kurosawa included lengthily expository titles and voiceless narrations. Was there such thing as narratives without voice? How could a narration be better conveyed if there was no voice at all? Film critics dubbed this imperfection as “literalness” . Moreover, Kurosawa had transported Russia to Hokkaido citing the following reasons: Hokkaido is located at the northwestern part of Japan in terms of landscape and architectural structures and clothing style. The people in this country during the wartime were in fur, the streets were European in setting. The cinematic genius might have thought of something far beyond his imagination. A clear example of this was the Russian inspired picture of a snowstorm through a master of onscreen weather as he recruited many manifestations for a particular season during that period. These in turn help his characters to express their inner feelings. as depicted by slow snowfall, to harsh sleet, and shifting mysterious fogs In addition, snow and ice form fantastic frozen cascades and thick blankets . His characters walked through them as if they were in an enchanted forest.
These visual effects were great to watch but the long scenes bored me to the hilt. Though the novel was philosophical, Kurosawa made a vey direct and comprehensive interpretation of the novel. On the contrary, the inclusion of subplots in the movie made it more complex for average viewers. A movie director must be aware of the fact that movies are expressive art forms. Therefore, it must be clear and simple.
