The Most Beautiful

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Antoine T Un film sur le but out ... en 1944. Visionnaire Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 06/03/24 Full Review Audience Member ???????????????? ?????????????????????????? Rated 2.5/5 Stars •  Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 02/22/23 Full Review Audience Member Eh, it's early Korosawa... Rated 2/5 Stars •  Rated 2 out of 5 stars 02/20/23 Full Review Audience Member Within this wartime propaganda film, Kurosawa-san weaves a tale detailing the strength of female determination. Set in an actual factory, this has a documentary feeling as it relies on actresses reacting to wartime situations more than delivering script lines. A tribute to the human spirit focusing on a goal in spite of multiple stresses. Few cultures could do this; but Japan in the early 20th century showed stern qualities which Churchill had espoused. It should be noted that there were disagreements with several of the cast. In smoothing things out, Akira began a relationship with Yoko, the lead factory girl, whom he married at the end of filming (2 months pregnant). His parents (father had been an army officer) could not attend the wedding as the elderly had been evacuated from Tokyo. The temple burned the day after the wedding; a casualty of American B-29 efficiency. The Kurosawa's were married until Yoko's death 40 years later. Rated 4.5/5 Stars •  Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 01/25/23 Full Review dustin d This World War II Japanese propaganda film is of historical value only. It is unworthy of Kurosawa's later, greater masterpieces. Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member The film opens with a placard that reads "Attack and Destroy the Enemy." That should tell you something about the film right there. War propaganda! Yay! And even blunter and more disturbing than the American kind. Their morning pledge ends, "We are women of the empire. Today we will do our best to help destroy America and Britain. We shall pass these ideals on to our descendents." Um, I really hope they haven't been doing that. To be honest it's this WW2 Japan setting that makes a fairly trite story interesting. Seeing what the Japanese government felt its people needed to see would be interesting in itself, even if just for historical value. Having someone as skilled as Kurosawa directing it makes it entertaining as well. It features essentially a vignette of life in a factory manufacturing optics for warplanes. This leads to its somewhat disjointed approach as it has no real overarching plot. The main theme is how much the girls sacrifice voluntarily for the war effort. This can be just general exhaustion but also a girl breaking her leg but being happy her hands are ok so she can still work or a girl continuing at work even though her mother is lying on her deathbed. One little problem is that all the girls look the same. That's not me being racist, they all wear the same uniform, are chubby cheeked and have the same haircut. Telling them apart can be quite tricky. And it might just be me but the situation seems to be getting much grimmer by the end. We start seeing references to Japanese defeats and the admonitions to work like Admiral Yamamoto or other famous warriors have been replaced by a generic and gloomy "follow the example of the war dead." Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/22/23 Full Review Read all reviews

The Most Beautiful

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