Ikiru

The fluid motion of the bureaucratic stream meticulously generating endless paperwork, to be filed and effectively categorized as emergent initiatives continuously diversify.

A steady job punctilious no doubt but relatively safe with benefits and comforts, not as lively as poetry or sword fighting but still dependable, reliable, and calm.

Nevertheless, concerned citizens seeking dynamic change may run into hardships, if things stagnate and there's no will to moderately adjust the status quo.

In Ikiru, for instance, determined mothers seek to change their environment, due to the incorrigible waste water leaving their children covered in rashes. 

Coincidentally, a senior civil servant who loves his family and is known for hard work, unfortunately discovers he has stomach cancer and only 6 months to a year left to live.

He decides to uncharacteristically withdraw some money and extemporaneously galavant around town, and soon becomes harmlessly infatuated with a spirited younger employee from work.

As she becomes bored with their routine which is somewhat too outgoing for the conservative climate, she asks him why he likes to spend time with her and he bravely decides to answer.

Her youthful spirit it captivatingly seems has reinvigorated his thirst for life, and caused him to reimagine his working role and spearhead change within his department.

They never see each other again but her accidental influence bears auspicious fruit.

And without much time left to live.

He charismatically champions change.

Stick with Ikiru's good intentions it gradually builds to a wholesome climax (Ikiru, not the United States), difficult to make a thrilling bureaucratic film that modestly presents humble good natured caricatures. 

I'm so used to Kurosawa's samurai that this was a surprise full of uncanny feeling, where the civil service functions bucolically amidst the insurgence of lay councilpeople.

I wonder if it was inspired by Dickens it's like The Circumlocution Office in Little Dorrit, where one of its employees isn't exactly like Scrooge but still wondrously changes for the communal good.

Imagine translating Dickens into French let alone Japanese brilliant translators are invaluable. 

How to understand different languages so well at such high levels.

Mind-blowing to say the least!

Yojimbo

A small town in the Japanese countryside embraces bleak internal conflict, as a local chieftain compassionately decides to give his business to his only son.

Such a traditional act cumbersomely enrages his right-hand man, who spent his life helping him build up the business and in turn expected to take over one day.

Unable to reach an agreement they furiously square off with uncompromising angst, then slowly chip away at each other's forces while desperately seeking a lasting advantage. 

When a grouchy itinerant samurai suddenly shows up within their village, curious to see what's going on yet hesitant to actively engage.

He eventually tries to side with one family (out of boredom) but then overhears a secret plot to murder him, which doesn't drive him to the other side but leaves him suspicious and self-absorbed. 

After conducting more hands-on research he has to admit the town's a mess, and even if he likes to cause lay mischief he still remains a conscientious man. 

That conscious soon put to the test when he learns of a family turn asunder.

Deciding to champion their holistic freedom.

He helps them escape only to be captured. 

A bizarre sympathetic embattled examination of a cunning jaded world-weary warrior, Yojimbo showcases immutable strength awkwardly juxtaposed with belligerent caution.

It's fun to watch as the brilliant samurai cleverly predicts what's going to happen, going over the different scenarios in his head as he makes decisions he'd rather ignore. 

Imagine a time long before the advent of automatic weapons when there was still honour in fighting, and it was dangerous to challenge the most-skilled who had been well-trained in swords and strategy.

But what a useless life for many who were hired to amass a chaotic gang, and lived only to fight in battles they couldn't win when corrupt overlords acquired them.

Emancipating the feminine and taking their viewpoints into active counsel with honest intent, can lead to a world more dynamically structured with other alternatives than organized combat.

So much of the world seems to have done this although in so doing some were left behind.

Who recklessly seek the old bellicose ways.

As long as they never have to do any fighting.