The Sea is Watching director Ken Kumai’s gargantuan three-hour spanning
historical drama The Sands of Kurobe about engineer Kitagawa (Toshiro Mifune)
and his Sisyphean task of constructing the now world-famous Kurobe Dam which
required miles of drilling a tunnel through the Japan Alps, is the biggest most
gigantic Japanese cinema saga you’ve never seen let alone heard of.Co-produced by Mifune’s own production
company, the mega-epic unifying a star-studded cast including Takashi Shimura,
Yujiro Ishihara and even Eiji Okada is an engineering drama about the uphill
battles and obstacles encountered by Kitagawa and his team upon embarking on construction
of the dam.
In 1951, the Kansai Electric Power
Company sought to provide power to the Kansai region of Japan.Hand picked for the task of engineering a
tunnel to transport materials for the construction of the hydroelectric dam is
Kitagawa (Mifune) who initially declines realizing the insurmountable nature of
the job but then bites his lip and hastily agrees.After accepting, the film chronicles the formulation
of Kitagawa’s construction team and research of the site intended to create the
tunnel.From here, it becomes an
endurance through all manner of unforeseeable disasters befalling the crew
including a flash flood that looks downright dangerous for the actors/stuntmen
to have participated in. Like Herzog’s Fitzcarraldo, engineer
Kitagawa within the framework of the story is seen engaged in a kind of David
vs. Goliath battle between himself, the increasing managerial pressures upon him
to meet the target date, interpersonal difficulties with fellow managers and a
daughter dying of Leukemia.In addition
to being something of a survivalist endurance test as Kitagawa and crew dare to
achieve the seemingly impossible, The Sands of Kurobe also presents an
incisive portrait of postwar Japan still in the throes of trying to reassert
itself on the global stage after being beaten in the Second World War.All the while, fellow investors start trying
to cut corners as disgruntled workers start to rebel against Kitagawa.
A testament to the dedication,
innovation and sacrifices made by the crew (171 lives were lost in the construction
of the dam), The Sands of Kurobe represents the uphill battle that
resulted in one of the world’s largest and most famous hydropower sites.Partially a disaster film as historical
drama, partially a character study of Kitagawa and how he pressed on ahead
through the mounting pressures and increasing dangers.Mifune is, naturally, fantastic in the part
and exudes prowess and command few Japanese actors of his time were ever capable
of portraying.While featuring many
ensemble players, this story is basically Mifune’s though recurring scenes with
fellow Seven Samurai actor Takashi Shimura will make a few dedicated
fans of Asian cinema smile. Shot in gorgeous panoramic widescreen
by legendary The Man Who Skied Down Everest cinematographer Mitsuji
Kanau, the film presents numerous epic vistas of the mountainous region before
moving into a claustrophobic, suffocating pit drilling away endlessly for most of
the rest of the movie.Equally important
is the sound design, softly aided by Toshiro Mayuzumi’s mournful and haunting
score in between explosive sounds of cave ins and tons of water bursting
through the walls and ceiling.Many
scenes, for dramatic effect, turn down the volume to total silence so you hear
a character speaking quietly despite the scene taking place in the middle of a
deafening deluge of water.
Though a recreation of the building of
the Kurobe Dam, watching The Sands of Kurobe with its death-defying
stunt work, difficulties in the enclosed shooting and being drenched in water constantly
from all sides feels at times literally like an ordeal both physical and
psychological. Mid-picture, after
witnessing all Hell break loose again and again, like those involved in the
construction of the dam you start to feel drained little by little. By the time the film’s exultant victory
presents itself, both we and the film’s heroes are spent and want to think nothing
of the super dam we spent the last three hours being constructed. However, also like Kitagawa in the film’s
grandiose and staggeringly epic finale, we also can’t help but marvel at the
accomplishment made by all that blood, sweat and tears.
