The best way to protect your spot in this world is to do nothing at all

but is this what life is really about?

Ikiru: A casual review

Ikiru is Japanese film by Akira Kurosawa made in 1956 based on the Leo Tolstoy's book "The Death of Ivan Ilyich", story suitably changed according to the Japan of the 50s. It revolves around a Tokyo bureaucrat Mr. Watanabe who has lived his entire life working like a robot, signing papers ever since his wife died. The story is set in a period when japan was still a developing country struggling with corruption on various levels. Our protagonist one day finds out he has stomach cancer. That day his life changes. Despaired by sudden knock of death on his doors, he realizes he has wasted the past thirty years of his life doing nothing

I just can't die — I don't know what I've been living for all these years. This expensive saki is a protest against my life up to now.

So he sets out to find how to live meaningfully. His first night is spent trying to find it in hedonism i.e. the nightlife in Tokyo. But he realizes that wasn't meant for him. The next morning in his office a subordinate visits him for a signature on her letter of resignation. Her joyous nature towards life attracts the curiousity of Mr. Watanabe.

So he starts spending time with her as much as possible in order to find the purpose in life. He even stops going to his office. Finally he asks her the reason for her attitude towards life. She says making toys makes her feel like playing with children of Japan. This gives him an incitement and he return to his office and sets on to bring a change. But that wasn't going to be an easy task. Only person that had changed was him. So he had to deal with various levels of corruption when meeting heads of other departments and the Deputy Mayor. But he gets his work done before death could arrive.

This movie's title means "to live" which our character ironically learns only after realizing his closeness to deathbed. The movie's message is to find meaning in life and start living fully purposefully before it is too late

I think screening this movie would work well especially in countries having corrupt bureaucracies such as India. It is a timeless film and should be screened in schools too