Dreams

This movie is a collection of pieces that Akira Kurosawa puts together under one name “Dreams.” It counts eight parts in total; each provides a philosophic view about a subject. This Japanese realization was released in 1990.
The first one is about a little boy who disobeys his mother and goes to the wood. It is a bright raining day. There, he hides behind a tree to watch the possession of the foxes. Suddenly, a noise is heard and they notice his presence as he runs away. The little boy is at the portal of the house and the mother comes to him. She says that she could not let him enter the house now. A fox was here and left a knife for him. The little boy has to kill himself. She encourages him to go after the foxes and ask for forgiveness. She guides him to look for the rainbow and to be ready to die because foxes are not known for their forgiveness.
The second one, “The Peach Orchard” is about a little boy again that brings five cups of tea for his sisters. He notices that one of the girls is missing. As he inquires about the missing one, the others laugh at him as he is under strong fever. However, this one makes an appearance that only he can see. He follows her to the wood where a bunch of mask and theatrical dress men and women confront him. There are arranged in scale formation. They accuse him and his family to cause the disappearance of the peach tree. He busts in tears. The mask men and women agree to let him enjoy this pleasure for a last time as they suddenly change in trees. At the end, there is one last tree that stands in pink while the others appear empty and seem to fade away.

In the “Tunnel,” a soldier is working toward a tunnel on an isolated area. As he approaches; a dog comes out to him and goes back to the tunnel. The soldier hesitates and then move toward the tunnel. As he comes out on the other side, he turns around and sees a soldier. His face looks very white. They talk to each other. It appears that the soldier has been killed in war. But he seems not to know that and he wishes to go back home. The living soldier recognizes him as part of his regiment. He expresses his regrets and encourages him to return with the dead. Just as the living soldier was about to leave; he hears a sound like a rolling train. His entire regiment, the third battalion, comes out in formation. Their faces look white too. As they seem to walk toward the living world; the living soldier tells them that they are better to stay in the dead world. They certainly would not change a thing at least in coming back that way. The living soldier salutes their courage and their bravery and he expresses his remolds and frustrations about war. He military salutes then as they return to the tunnel.
In the “crows,” a young man is at a museum to watch painting arts. Suddenly, he enters a painting and seems to look for someone. The person he is looking for is Van Gogh. He travels the countryside and meets him at a field. Van Gogh expresses to him how he finds it beautiful to observe nature. He feels inspire and can paint all day in face of such phenomenon. Van Gogh leaves him in the field because he does not want to wait the opportunity because the time is too short for him to paint nature. The young man wanders around among nature and animals as he lost sites of Van Gogh to the hill.
The “Mount Fuji in Red” shows a beginning of a series of explosion near the Mount Fuji. It is not clear that this is coming out of the volcano. There is red hot steam coming out and rolling down as people try to escape. It is a chaotic situation where everyone moves around. Those who are left behind are near the sea and they ask where the others go. One of them explains that this is the result of nuclear technology. Mankind have creates their own destruction. They wander around as one flew himself in the sea and the other wait to die. The part ends with one man fights in vain again a windy red chemical.
“The Weeping demon” presents a man that is traveled in a devastated field. There seems to have nothing around him. He finally meets a creature that is first running away from him. He addresses the creature and they begin a dialogue. The creature explains to him that what he sees, in the effect of radioactivity on the people. They lost everything. Plants are mutating in different kind and human change to demon. The demon forces him to get out so he could not become one too.
This movie, “Dreams” addresses many themes such as war, disobedience, nuclear destruction, nature and the environment, naturalism is arts, and rituals of his country.

This movie is a strong argument to show how movies can serve to defend a cause. It can serve as a weapon to promote causes of environment and nature as in the “Peach Orchard” and “Weeping Demon”. One can also makes argument about their culture as in “Sunshine through the Rain.” There is a similarity there between Jean De La Fontaine; this French writer was very well known to use animal to address issues about mankind. “Dreams” is a very artistic and well thought realization that shows the great maturity of Akira Kurasawa. This movie shows great maturity in term of expression. The symbolism provides viewer many argumentations and effectively requires viewers to think about the subject. The movie looks simple without great technical effect as I see nowadays in many productions