Equipped only with a blown out umbrella twisted into the shape of a flower, an old lady, like some ancient Samurai warrior, braves a blinding rainstorm to plea for ending the inhumanity of war. One of his most lyrical and poetic works, Akira Kurosawa's second to last film, Rhapsody in August is about four young Japanese teenagers who stay with their grandmother one summer near Nagasaki and learn about the atomic destruction of their city on August 9, 1945. The film is both a lament for the suffering caused by militarism and an outcry against the world's collective loss of memory.

When the children visit their elderly grandmother, Kané (86-year old Sachiko Murase),she tells them that their grandfather died in the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, an event in their country's history that they know very little about. Concerned that the teenagers cannot understand the suffering that had occurred, and the possibility of such an event occurring again, Kané relates personal stories about her experience on that terrible day. Building bridges between generations through her stories, she is able to have the children look past the consumerist values instilled in them by their parents and discover both their countries heritage and the values in life that are most important. As the old woman tells each tale, the children are both curious and moved by their power and mysticism and visit the sites she describes in her stories.

They see the decaying remains of two old trees intertwined forever after a lightning storm. They visit the school yard where their grandfather died and see what is left of a jungle gym, now a pile of melted twisted metal that has become a memorial to those children and adults that suffered and died on that day. The film is haunted by Kané's attempt to cope with the emotional consequences of the bombing, an event that most are unable to remember, but that she is unable to forget. She tells the story of her younger brother, a painter, who could only paint eyes, specifically a large red eye, the "eye of the flash" that signaled the disaster in which 39,000 people were killed and an estimated 75,000 died years after.

The children's parents have gone to visit Kané's brother who emigrated tom Hawaii in 1920 to run a pineapple plantation and married a Caucasian American. One of ten brothers, Sujijiro, now in failing health, wants to see his sister before he dies but she is reluctant to go in spite of the urging of the children who drool over pictures of her brother's affluent surroundings. When the parents return from Hawaii, wishing to establish good relations with the wealthy Hawaiian family, they try to persuade Kané to go. When Clark (Richard Gere),Sujijiro's son, flies to Nagasaki, the parents are sure it is because he wants to end the proposed visit, resenting the implication that America caused his Uncle's death.

When Clark arrives, however, the family discovers the opposite. Although Gere does not look the part of a Japanese-American, his warmth, sincerity, and passion for peace more than compensate and his time in the film is one of the highlights. He first expresses his remorse for his uncle's death in the bombing and visits the shrines in Nagasaki with the four children and their parents. Some critics say the film alludes only to the dropping of the atomic bomb and not to any of the events that preceded it, including the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor. However, it is clearly Kurosawa's intention to dramatize the futility of war, not the wrongdoing of one country.

In a tender conversation with Kané, Clark apologizes for what he "should" have said but Kané repeatedly and simply responds, "it's all right", blame it on the war", pointing out that many Americans as well as Japanese died in the fighting. Kané agrees to go to Hawaii but only after joining in a memorial service to the Nagasaki victims, repeating the mantra of Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva (Buddhist deity),"Gate gate paragate parasamgate bodhi svaha" - "gone, gone, everyone gone to the other shore". One of the loveliest scenes in the film is the sight of a colony of ants climbing the stem of a rose bush, a final epiphany suggesting that amidst the destruction, beauty and hope survive.

Although aware of Akira Kurosawa's standing in the realm of world cinema,I have never been a great fanatic of his films as most of them are Samurai films heavily laden with symbolic references to Japanese society.For me Akira Kurosawa's non Samurai films are better films as they speak of deeper issues like human sentiments.I watched "Rhapsody in August" directed by Akira Kurosawa film with rapt attention.As I was watching it after having watched "Madadayo",I could not help but comparing it both in style as well as content with that film.Both the films were made by Kurosawa when he was at the end of his career and may be for this reason he chose to make humanist stories.Rhapsody in August is a meaningful tale for all people whether they are young or old,American or Japanese.It is a film which shows how important a family is and how wisdom must be passed from the old to the young. Kurosawa has deftly tackled the question of Japan's Atomic bomb tragedy through plain words spoken by an old lady who tells her young grandchildren that with the passage of time all wounds are healed.Rhapsody in August tells us albeit in a non academic manner why it is important to live peacefully thereby avoiding war for the benefit of peaceful coexistence and human society.

Akira Kurosawa is one of my very favorite filmmakers. If you search through my reviews, I have written about a few, The Seven Samurai, High and Low, Kagemusha, and Dreams. I have seen many more, Rashomon, Ikiru (my personal favorite),Yojimbo, Sanjuro, Dersu Uzala, and Ran. I have only disliked one, High and Low, but not one of his films failed to amaze me in some way or other. My initial opinion, after seeing Rashomon, The Seven Samurai, Yojimbo, Ran and Kagemusha was that he was an amazing stylist whose films felt slightly impersonal to me. I strongly disagree with that opinion now (I expressed it in my review to Kagemusha, which I'm surprised hasn't resulted in tons of hate mail).

I have just finished watching Kurosawa's second to last film, Rhapsody in August. It is not highly regarded, usually dismissed as a very minor work in a master's portfolio. This I also discovered about my second favorite of his films, Dreams. Well, as far as my opinion, I think people were dead wrong about both of these films.

Rhapsody in August is not a stylistic masterpiece like The Seven Samurai, Yojimbo, or Ran. Instead, only second to Ikiru, it is Kurosawa's most humanistic film. I have only seen one film by him (although I've read a lot about him),but I would compare it more to Yasujiro Ozu's work.

This film has a plethora of themes, ranging from the effect of the H-Bomb on both the Japanese and the Americans, the generation gaps between the three generations present (the matriarch of the family feels separate from her middle-aged children, but she relates well to her grandchildren who are interested in their country's sorrowful history),and the effect of American culture on the Japanese of the present generation. It is quite a handful, but everything is handled so subtly that some viewers who don't pick up on it all may easily grow uninterested. In some ways, the film feels very didactic (in a good way). I can imagine this film being showed to younger children, since the four grandchildren, at least at the beginning, are learning about the history of the bomb and Nagazaki and their grandfather's death.

The only weak point of the film is probably the very end, which is difficult to understand. I have a feeling that there was some cross-cultural barrier preventing my understanding of it, so if anyone does get it, please contact me. Anyway, as I perceived it, the film ended kind of randomly. But still, what has come before is too good to get too upset by the lack of closure. It deserves a 10/10.