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The Idiot
JAPAN · 1951

The Idiot

Akira Kurosawa
redemption through compassion post-war trauma moral innocence unrequited love social class conflict
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Synopsis

A gentle, war-shattered ex-soldier, Kinji Kameda, arrives in wintry Hokkaidō and is pulled into a volatile tangle of love and pity between the disgraced Taeko Nasu, the proud Ayako, and his possessive friend Akama. Kameda’s saintly compassion exposes everyone’s wounds, steering the quartet toward jealousy, violence, and inexorable tragedy. Adapted from Dostoevsky’s novel.

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