The Idiot

Before I get to my actual review I will attempt to clear up a few things. I'm a huge fan of Fyodor Dostoevsky and Akira Kurosawa is probably my favorite director of all time. It shouldn't come to you as a surprise that I appreciated Kurosawa's adaptation of Dostoevsky's The Idiot a lot. However, the film is possibly a bit hard to understand for those who have not read the original novel because the studio butchered the film by removing significant portions of the cut that is the only surviving cut to date. Originally Kurosawa spent a lot of time and effort on creating a perfect rhythm for the film and that cut was a bit over 4 hours long. The studio, Shochiku, told Kurosawa to cut it shorter. After a bunch of cuts and arguments, the studio itself simply butchered most of the first third of the film. The result is disastrous because the narrative is so messed up in the final version. However, more than a half of the film was left intact as it was and I can still savour those scenes even though a lot of needed development was cut from the beginning. Kurosawa had created a complex beginning for the film - which not only established a lot of side characters that were eventually cut from the film, but also set the mood for the film.

Akira Kurosawa's The Idiot (1951) is the story of a purely good man who becomes the target of ridicule in snowbound Hokkaido. Dostoevsky's original novel took place in Russia of the 1860's, but Kurosawa brilliantly changes the setting to the post-war Hokkaido. Due to the change of milieu there are a few details about the story that have been changed - such as the philosophical and religious ideas that were present throughout the novel. A lot of motifs and symbols from the novel are smoothly transferred to the film while Kurosawa adds his own touch on top of them. Even though the beginning of the film was butchered, Kurosawa still manages to explore the main characters properly enough and shows us just how conflicted, vulnerable and fascinating they are. 

Kurosawa's form is intimate, powerful and clever in The Idiot. His compositions are beautiful and poignant - lots of interesting visual motifs can be discovered. Like I've mentioned before, Kurosawa is masterful when it comes to placing characters in each composition. The camera movement is graceful and wonderful. After the initial shock the editing becomes decent too - especially after the first hour because that is where the film was left untouched by the studio.

The film's biggest strength is the cast - each and every one make a brilliant performance. Masayuki Mori's Kameda is probably the best Myshkin (the character's original name) we will ever witness in cinema. His body language and line delivery are pitch perfect. However, his performance doesn't dominate the film even though it could do that in a lot of other films. Toshiro Mifune's repressed yet aggressive performance is haunting. Setsuko Hara's noble and dramatic portrayal of Nasu Taeko caught me off-guard by its magnificence. Yoshiko Kuga's Ayako embodies exactly what I thought about the character in the original novel.

I have to admit that my appreciation for the film is quite personal and the film is quite open for attacks due to its narrational incoherence.

Score: 10 out of 10