About inspiration. I think if it weren’t for Akira Kurosawa’s Redbeard, there wouldn’t be this movie. Masumura openly thematically started from the work of his colleague as if conceptually discussing with him.
He also moved the action of the plot to the beginning of the XIX century. Only here it was about a real historical character - the doctor Seishu Hanaoka, who conducted the first documented operation under anesthesia.
We are shown Hanaoka as a courageous man who has to face the challenges of fate. He's losing two close women. They're dying of cancer, and there's nothing the hero can do about it. Masumura combines documentary and melodrama. We will be shown the emotional world of the protagonist, explain why he devoted his life to the fight against breast cancer, and at the same time offer the author’s retrospective view of the course of a deadly disease and surgical operations.
Perhaps the tape could be made more dynamic, bright, fresh. Alas, Masumura chose a too academic style. I would not be surprised if such a deliberately drawn-out style is not the fruit of his plan, but the desire to stand out from Akira. You can laugh at this competition, you can consider the tape weak.
But, with any relation to it, we have before us the biography of a famous doctor, a significant historical figure. In a way, honoring true Japanese heroes. For the 1967 film, and for Japanese cinema today, it is a great achievement. And this completely replaces the known weakness of the picture.
5 out of 10