“through the act of living, the discovery of oneself is made concurrently with the discovery of the world around us. . ."

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Kurosawa’s Dream







Hina Matsuri, the Doll Festival, traditionally takes place in spring when the peach blossoms are in full bloom. The dolls that go on display at this time, they say, are representative of the peach trees and their pink blossoms. One boy's family, however, has chopped down their peach orchard, so the boy feels a sense of loss during this year's festival. After being scolded by his older sister the boy spots a small girl running out the front door. He follows her to the now-treeless orchard, where the dolls from his sister's collection have come to life and are standing before him on the slopes of the orchard. The living dolls, revealing themselves to be the spirits of the peach trees, berate the boy about chopping down the precious trees. But after realizing how much he loved the blossoms, they agree to give him one last glance at the peach trees by way of a slow and beautiful dance to Etenraku. After they disappear the boy finds the small girl walking among the treeless orchard before seeing a single peach tree sprouting in her place.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dreams_(film) :The Peach Orchard – from Akira Kurosawa’s ‘Dreams’

A nation that was brought down to its knees by nuclear bombs – remember ‘Little Boy’? Generations continue to suffer the ill-effects of those nuclear holocausts at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. But what has that enlightened civilization that gives us the best cars and the best cameras learned from its experience? They built nuclear power stations of their own.
And then, Tsunami came.




Down the series of short movies, there is another 'dream',

Mount Fuji in Red

The film's second nightmare sequence. A large nuclear power plant near Mount Fuji has begun to melt down, painting the sky a horrendous red and sending the millions of Japanese citizens desperately fleeing into the ocean. Three adults and two children are left behind on land, but they soon realize that the radiation will kill them anyway.


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Balachandran V, Trivandrum 16.03.2011

5 comments:

  1. I just hope that the dream doesnt come true. It pains to think of these hardworking and honest people.

    Anything that can provide sustenance but at the cost of health and safety is a big NO-NO.

    Its due to selfishness and lackadaisical attitude of the officials and lawmakers; a country already torn to pieces due to nuclear power is facing the same danger yet again.

    Nature's fury like earthquake and tsunami cant be averted; but this nuclear disaster? Its man-made and time again man proves how stupid he is.

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  3. The devastation from “The little Boy” and “The fat Man” was so overwhelming that people went and lived by the Fujiama. Little did they know that Nature did not have much heed for their lives. One day the Mount Fuji blew out hot, molten lava down her slope and engulfed the people taking refuge by her sides. The luckier ones managed and ran away to the plains and saw that the ill effects of the two nuclear bombs were no more and went about procreating and merry making. They built huge airports reclaiming the sea. Nuclear power plants dotted the landscape like wind mills. Then came the Tsunami, and washed them away with their homes. And the power plants began spewing toxic radiation. The lucky ones who were not washed away by the floods were destined to rue their luck and wait for slow and tortuous death.

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  4. A real bad dream.

    During the history of the world over the past several centuries, the mass destroyers of populations were mainly plague, cholera and fires. Of course, earthquakes and volcanoes were not unknown. But of late, the destroyers have been cyclones, earthquakes and tsunamis. Things seem to be getting worse of late with the eruption of many dormant volcanoes. If Yellowstone erupts .. increasing seismic activity has been noticed there, half of America can suffer serious damage. The population living on the peripheries of the 'Ring of Fire' may be well advised to move away to safe places. It looks like we are in for disaster live coverages rather than watching disaster movies.

    Our hearts go out to the Japanese people at this moment of the greatest tragedy in the last 100 years. Even survivors may have no solace since many loved ones must have lost their lives. The country should bravely come out of this situation and stand back on its feet.
    They can,and they will.That is what their history has shown us.

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