Ikiru: A Reflection on Life and Bureaucracy
This film draws its inspiration from Leo Tolstoy’s 1886 novella, “The Death of Ivan Ilyich,” offering a poignant exploration of life, death, and the human condition.
This movie marks Bill Nighy’s return to the screen after a year-long hiatus. The film we’re diving into today is:
Ikiru
The Stagnant World of Williams
Williams is the section chief of the public service department in City Hall. His department operates under an unspoken rule: every desk must be buried under a mountain of files.
This facade creates the illusion of productivity, allowing employees to daydream or even nap without raising suspicion.
On Wakeford’s first day, three women arrive at the office early in the morning.
They are residents of a slum, where a perpetually flooded ditch has severely impacted their lives. Despite numerous complaints, their concerns have been ignored. They’ve been passed from department to department, only to be sent back to where they started.
Williams mechanically instructs Wakeford to escort the women to various offices to inquire about their case. This experience exposes Wakeford to the department’s true nature.
Appearances are meticulously maintained, but actual work is neglected. “Clocking in and out” is the unspoken rule of this workplace.
The employees arrive and leave on time, avoiding mistakes but also avoiding productivity. Time slips away with each glance at their watches. These scenes still resonate with familiarity today.
One day, Williams, usually punctual, is absent. His unexplained absence raises suspicion among his colleagues.
Meanwhile, Williams sits on a park bench, staring into the distance. He is grappling with the news from his doctor: he has terminal stomach cancer. Reflecting on his life, he realizes he has accomplished nothing of significance. This sense of futility makes him unwilling to accept his fate.
His wife passed away early, and he raised his son alone, but they have grown distant. Feeling increasingly frustrated, Williams decides to take action.
A Fleeting Taste of Decadence
One evening, while dining alone, he meets a playwright. After confiding in him about his suppressed emotions, Williams embarks on a period of hedonistic indulgence.
Leaving behind his work and family, he tries to embrace a carefree life. However, after excessive indulgence, he realizes that this lifestyle does not fulfill him. He feels even more empty after his escapades. Using the last moments of his life to indulge is not a good idea.
Wandering aimlessly through the streets, he encounters his former subordinate, Margaret, who now works as a waitress. Williams watches her moving between tables, appearing busy but content. He begins to question his own life and the purpose of his daily routine.
He has saved money but hasn’t spent it, lacks a loving partner, and doesn’t have the joy of grandchildren. To protect his job, he hasn’t taken a single day off in 30 years, adhering to the principle that inaction prevents mistakes, ensuring his continued employment. He has wasted decades of his life.
As his life nears its end, he decides to make a change.
Echoes of Kurosawa
In 1952, Japanese director Akira Kurosawa directed the film “Ikiru.” The film we see today is a remake and tribute to the previous one.
The plot of this movie does not differ much from the original. To give the film a greater sense of time, the film uses a retro filter to try to restore the street scenes of London at that time.
Contrary to most movie plots, Williams dies in the two-thirds of this film.
The audience can only piece together how he spent the last few months of his life from the narratives of the section members.
He changed his previous work attitude and can be said to have changed his temperament greatly.
Compared to his previous mantra “We can put it here for now, it doesn’t matter.” Now he can’t help but care.
He took out the long-delayed reconstruction of the smelly ditch and personally led the section members to conduct on-site surveys.
However, it is difficult for him to change a huge administrative body like stagnant water with his own strength.
During the entire transformation process, he had to beg his grandfathers and grandmothers in one section after another to get the seal and signature.
If some sections did not approve, he would just sit there and wait, even if he had to wait a day.
A section member asked him, “Aren’t you angry that they treat you like this?”
“I don’t have time to be angry.”
He wants to live a serious and fulfilling life in these few months, instead of being a depressed and muddle-headed person again.
This is his awakening as his life is about to end, and there are still many people who will never wake up in this life.
In people’s memory, Williams has become a role model and even a hero, and everyone is proud of him.
They are determined to become like him, working hard, dedicating themselves, speaking out righteously…to become people who truly solve problems.
If the movie ends here, then the characters in the movie, including the audience, can be immersed in this sunny and positive beauty.
However, the reality is that after the excitement, they returned to the same stagnant work state.
Everyone is making choices, and everyone is thinking.
Not everyone can give up their small family for everyone. What is more important seems to be a simple choice, but in fact, under the corrupt and old-fashioned system, it is a complex problem that affects the whole body.
Williams’ deeds are just an episode in the lives of his colleagues.
Throwing a stone into the lake, the ripples in the lake are not enough to disturb the tranquility of the bottom of the lake, and the coldness after the fireworks are gone is the norm.
A Mirror to Reality
This film is a classic because the director is direct and sharp in reflecting social issues and analyzing human nature.
There are no extra scenes or lines in the entire movie, and every frame should not be missed as the plot develops.
From a factual point of view, what Williams accomplished cannot be called a feat.
However, within the entire bureaucratic system, it was a groundbreaking move. His determination and persistence are something that none of them can do.
At the end of the movie, Williams is swinging in the small park he helped transform, humming a song that misses his hometown…
We often say that movies are like infinitely enlarged canvases that can create dreams, and also like mirrors that reflect reality.
These bad phenomena that we should despise and abandon have become commonplace, and when they are expressed again using film techniques, they are deafening like waking up a dreamer.
The afterglow of the movie makes us reflect, blame ourselves, and regret, but after the residual heat dissipates, we return to normal in real life.
Like the section members in the movie, continue to stay in the wrong comfort zone. Maybe this is the complexity of society and human nature.
I hope we can all wake up earlier and do something, even a little bit, to benefit others and make ourselves feel at ease.