In Japanese folklore, Ohara Sosuke was a rich man who wasted all his wealth trying to maintain his prestige. In this movie, Denjirô Ôkôchi, who spent much of his career playing samurai, is the last member of an old samurai family in a small village. Tere are the remnants of the family's former wealth, but the cash is all gone, between his drinking and his borrowing money to make gifts to the town. There are rice paddies on his estate, but no one tends them. Offers come his way, to be the village chief, but he turns them down. Ruin seems inevitable, but he does nothing to prevent it.
Hiroshi Shimizu's movie is a meditation on the passing of old Japan, and the rising of a new Japan, and the inability of the old aristocracy to adapt. He does not condemn Ôkôchi; Ôkôchi seems awre of it, and his own uselessness and laziness. Raised in a tradition of wealth and respect, he cannot accept a job, and he must remain in the village, because that is where his home is. He is trapped in a prison of his ancestors' buildig, and must remain a prisoner while the prison stands.
Hiroshi Shimizu's movie is a meditation on the passing of old Japan, and the rising of a new Japan, and the inability of the old aristocracy to adapt. He does not condemn Ôkôchi; Ôkôchi seems awre of it, and his own uselessness and laziness. Raised in a tradition of wealth and respect, he cannot accept a job, and he must remain in the village, because that is where his home is. He is trapped in a prison of his ancestors' buildig, and must remain a prisoner while the prison stands.
