Drunken Angel (1948) directed by Akira Kurosawa
is story of an alcoholic doctor, Takashi Shimura,
in post 2nd world war Japan who treats a
young Matsunaga (Toshiro Mifune) wounded in a gunfight with a rival syndicate.
The doctor diagnoses the young gangster with tuberculosis,
and convinces him to begin treatment. The two enjoy an uneasy friendship until
the gangster's former boss, seeks to
take his gang over once again. The sick young man then stops following the
doctor's advice, slips back into old habits and threatens to kill him. Matsunaga
is killed in the ensuing knife fight. The film ends with a local shop-owner
woman who had feelings for Matsunaga planning to take Matsunaga's ashes to be
buried on her farm, far from the corrupt and dirty city, and the doctor happily
learning that one of his younger patients has been fully cured of tuberculosis.
The character of doctor was created by Kurusawa after prolonged search and
research.
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