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The Most Beautiful
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Wikipedia article
is a 1944 Japanese drama and propaganda film written and directed by Akira Kurosawa. The film is set in an optics factory during the Second World War when the film was produced.
Plot
The film, set during World War II, and released in 1944, is a prime example of a propaganda film. The film depicts the struggle of the workers at the Hiratsuka precision optics factory to meet production targets during World War II. They continually drive themselves, both singly and as a group, to exceed the targets set for them by the factory directors. The films factory directors push the girls to be their best for their country. The girls live in a dormitory, and every day they march and sing songs about Japans greatness while on the way to work. They live away from their parents but are happy to do so to serve their country. Every morning before work, they pledge that they will be loyal to Japan and will work to destroy the U.S. and Britain. There are encouraging signs posted everywhere about working hard for ones country in the factory. During the film, one of the girls gets sick and has to stay home, making her incredibly upset about missing work and cries because of the tremendous guilt she feels. She begs not to be sent home because she wants to keep working. Later on, a girl falls off the roof and gets badly injured. Yet she says she is delighted that she didnt harm her hands and will come to work on crutches. Their productivity decreases, the girls know their reputation is at stake, and they must work harder. One of the girls says that one cant improve productivity without improving ones character. Watanabes mother gets sick, her dad writes that under no circumstance should she come home, and her mother wants her to keep working, saying that her job is too important to leave. Near the end of the film, one of the girls gets a high temperature and tries to shake it off because she doesnt want to get sent home or stop working. Later on, Watanabe accidentally misplaces a lens and spends the entire night looking for it, she is worried her mistake will cost a soldier their life. The film ends with Watanabes mom dying and her father telling her to stay at work. The factory directors ask her to go home. She refuses to go home and cries while continuing her work.
Impact
Overall, this film is an excellent example of Japanese propaganda during World War II. Japanese propaganda shows the social psychology that helped Japan pursue its wartime aims. Propaganda is what allowed Japan to wage war for so long. The book The Thought War by Barak Kushner defines propaganda as a deliberate attempt to shape perceptions to achieve a response that furthers the desired action. Propaganda appeals to emotions and affects the social psychology of a population." The film can be discovered as primarily accurate in the book Japan At War" ' by Haruko Taya Cook and Theodore F. Cook. Part three, chapter 8, Making War Balloons, is about girls working in factories. Tanaka Tetsuko, a Japanese woman who worked in a factory during the war, was raised with a very militaristic education and was told to serve the Emperor at all costs, even if it meant sacrificing yourself. She wrote that The whole Japanese race was fighting a war.' '. The girls in the factory begged to be sent to the military arsenal and wrote in blood, Please let us go and serve the nation.' 'They were all very excited when they were finally sent away. On the way to work, they would sing military songs, similar to the film. According to Tetsuko, living conditions in the factory were not that great. In the movie, the girls had outstanding living accommodations, but in reality, they didnt get much food, had no electricity in the bathroom, and slept in uncomfortable beds. Additionally, in the film, the girls are seen as all best friends, but in real life, the girls that worked in factories didnt know each other at all. The film shows the girls being delighted to be there and loving it there. In reality, according to Tetsuko, girls working in the factories missed their families a lot and wanted to return home. The film accurately showed the girls desire to work for their country, but it did not accurately describe their living situation and conditions. The film's purpose was to encourage people to sacrifice for the state, which the film tries to show as a beautiful thing.'
Critical reception
Paul Anderer of Columbia University has commented on the subtext of the film having been released during the war years for Japan. Anderer offers the opinion that; "It is as if Kurosawa himself were in this lineup (of directors under state scrutiny), frozen inside wartime, when any significant movement or resistance to the authority would be stillborn. Surrounded by a censorship apparatus far more resourceful and intimidating, he would later claim, than anything the American Occupation threw his way, he had few thematic or tonal options: historical tributes to Japanese spiritual and martial values (like 'Sanshiro Sugata' and its weaker sequel), or patriotic odes to factory production and sacrificial domesticity (e.g., 'The Most Beautiful', 1944)".Anderer, Paul (2016). 'Kurosawa's Rashomon'. Pegasus Books.
On the other hand, critics like Stephen Prince, Kurosawa's translator Audie Bock, and historian David Conrad have argued that what is most striking about 'The Most Beautiful' and Kurosawa's other wartime productions is the extent to which they complicate and even undercut the government's desired message. 'The Most Beautiful' "dutifully praises sacrifice but shrouds it in an air of futility" by focusing on "the individual emotional costs of war."Conrad, David A. (2022). 'Akira Kurosawa and Modern Japan'. McFarland & Co.
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