Dreams

Dreams is a film based on the dreams of the films director, Akira Kurosawa. The film consists of eight of dreams that Kurosawa had throughout his life, beginning with childhood then adulthood. The first dream is titled Sunshine through the Rain, a young boy witnessed the marriage of fox in the woods on a day were there was sunshine and rain. The second dream, The Peach Orchard, the same boy is a little older. He encounters spirits of a chopped down preach tree orchard. The spirits are angry that someone destroyed their trees. The spirits notice the boy was angry too and performed a dance for him. The third dream was called The Blizzard. In the next dream, The Tunnel, a Japanese army officer travels through a dark tunnel. He is followed by the ghosts in his platoon he had led into battle. He tells the men how sorry he was then sends them back on their way. Crows, the fifth dream is about a painter who ends up in Vincent Van Gough painting and encounters crazy Vincent living inside his work. In the following dream, Mount Fuji in Red, the eruption of Mount Fuji occurs with several nuclear power plants. In the seventh dream, The Weeping Demon, a man encounters a demon that was once a human before the radiation mutated him. The final dream is Village of the Watermills; a man finds a village where he meets an old man. The old man tells him about his beliefs on how technology will destroy the world.

We get to explore human nature through Kurosawa dreams. Each dream had its own message, but all the dreams seem to focus on the good and bad of humans. Kurosawa made one message stand out the most which was how one should care about nature. The dreams Mount Fuji in Red and The Weeping Demon show how the destruction of nature leads to the destruction of humankind. He makes the message even clearer in the dream, Village of the Watermills, the people in that village treated nature well and was rewarded with long lives and happiness.

The film was very thought provoking, but did not leave a huge impact on me. The Dreams are dragged out far too long. The concept of using dreams throughout the film was astounding. One of my favorite scenes is in the dream Crows, when the man is running through the paintings, which was a great use of special effects. Another scene I liked is from The Tunnel, which is when the officer sends the men who are ghosts marching off to rest in peace. The film had gorgeous cinematography which compensated for the slow paced dreams. Overall I believe Dreams is an impressive film.