Meet Akira Kurosawa(4):The Poet of Humanism*

Beyond his technical mastery and innovative storytelling, what sets Akira Kurosawa apart from his contemporaries is his deep-rooted sense of humanism. Films like Ikiru (1952) and Red Beard (1965) showcase Kurosawa’s ability to explore the essence of what it means to live a meaningful life. Ikiru is perhaps his most personal film, telling the story of a bureaucrat who, upon discovering he has terminal cancer, sets out to find purpose in his final days. Through this narrative, Kurosawa confronts the existential questions that define human experience—mortality, legacy, and the quest for significance.

In Red Beard, Kurosawa dives deep into the relationship between a compassionate doctor and his arrogant apprentice. The film is a meditation on empathy, sacrifice, and the idea that true greatness comes from serving others. Kurosawa believed that films should serve as a mirror to society, reflecting not only its beauty but its flaws and injustices. His characters often grapple with moral dilemmas, and his films rarely offer easy answers.

Kurosawa’s cinema is one of hope, even in the face of tragedy, a beacon of light in a world often overshadowed by darkness.

*For more on Kurosawa’s humanism, Donald Richie’s A Hundred Years of Japanese Film offers great insight .