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Dodes'ka-den
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==Plot== The film is an anthology of overlapping vignettes exploring the lives of a variety of characters who live in a suburban [[Shanty town|shantytown]] atop a [[Landfill|rubbish dump]].<ref name=newyorkmag/> The first to be introduced is Roku-chan, a boy who lives in a fantasy world in which he is a [[Tram|trolley]] driver. In his fantasy world, he drives his trolley along a set route and schedule through the dump, reciting the refrain "dodeska-den" ("clickety-clack", mimicking the sound of a trolley). His dedication to the fantasy is fanatical. Roku-chan is called "trolley freak" (''densha baka'') by locals and by children from outside the shantytown.{{sfnp|Yoshimoto|2000|p=339}}<ref>{{citation|last=Wild |first=Peter |title=Akira Kurosawa |page=150 |publisher=Reaktion Books |year=2014|isbn=9781780233802 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vIVoCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA150}}</ref> His mother is concerned that Roku-chan is genuinely [[Intellectual disability|mentally challenged]].{{Refn|In Yamamoto's novel it is stated "it has been repeatedly demonstrated by [expert] doctors that he is neither imbecile nor mentally deficient".{{sfnp|Yoshimoto|2000|p=339}}}}{{sfnp|Yamamoto|1969|p=12}} (Roku-chan has earned the label in several cinematographic writings.{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|Such as Kurosawa's frequent script supervisor [[Teruyo Nogami]],<ref name="criterionbooklet">"A Conversation with Teruyo Nogami", ''Dodeska-den'' DVD booklet, 2009, [[The Criterion Collection]]. Retrieved 2022-11-20</ref> Kurosawa's assistant {{illm|Hiromichi Horikawa|ja|堀川弘通}},<ref>{{citation|last=Horikawa |first=Hiromichi (堀川弘通) |title=Hyōden Kurosawa Akira<!--評伝黒澤明--> |publisher=Mainichi Shimbun sha |year=2000 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HukvAQAAIAAJ |page=293|isbn=9784620314709 |quote=六ちゃんという知的障害児 (mentally disabled child named Roku-chan)|language=ja}}</ref> and film theorist [[Noël Burch]].<ref name=burch/>}}) Ryotaro, a hairbrush maker by trade, is saddled with supporting many children whom his unfaithful wife Misao{{efn|Misao means "Chastity".}} has conceived in different adulterous affairs, but he is wholeheartedly devoted to them.{{sfnp|Yoshimoto|2000|p=340}}<ref name=newyorkmag>{{cite journal|last=Crist |first=Judith |title=Movies: Uneasy Rider |journal=New York Magazine |date=1971-10-11 |page=67 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DTXQh4KRPuoC&pg=PA67}}</ref> A pair of drunken day laborers (Masuda and Kawaguchi) engage in [[Swinging (sexual practice)|wife-swapping]], only to return to their own wives the next day as though nothing has happened.<ref name=newyorkmag/>{{sfnp|Yamada|1999|p=162}} A stoic, bleak man named Hei is frequently visited by Ocho, who appears to be his ex-wife, and he watches emotionless as she does his domestic chores. It is eventually revealed that she cheated on him and returned, wracked with guilt; he does not forgive her. {{sfnp|Yamada|1999|p=162}}{{sfnp|Mellen|1972|p=19}} At the opposite end of the spectrum is Shima, a man with a [[tic]] who is always defending his outwardly unpleasant and bullying wife. He flies into a rage when friends criticize her and says that she's always been there for him.{{sfnp|Mellen|1972|pp=20, 22|ps=Mellen refers to Hei as Hira-san}}{{sfnp|Yamada|1999|p=163}} A beggar and his son live in a derelict car, a [[Citroën 2CV]]. While the father is preoccupied with daydreams of owning a magnificent home, the boy dies tragically of food poisoning and his father's neglect. He buries his son's cremated remains with Tanba's help, still keeping up the fantasy that the grave is a swimming pool built for his son to enjoy.<ref>{{citation|last1=Wilson |first1=Flannery |last2=Correia |first2=Jane Ramey |title=Intermingled Fascinations: Migration, Displacement and Translation in World Cinema |year=2011 |url=https://books.google.com/books?isbn=1443831271 |page=105}}</ref>{{sfnp|Mellen|1972|pp=20, 21}} Katsuko, a [[Muteness|mute]] girl, is raped by her alcoholic uncle and becomes pregnant, and in a fit of irrationality stabs Okabe, a boy who works at the liquor shop who has tender feelings for her, not having any other way to vent her emotional turmoil.{{sfnp|Mellen|1972|pp=20, 21}}{{sfnp|Wilson|Correia|2011|p=123}} When her uncle is confronted as a suspect for this abusive act, he flees town. Okabe recovers and forgives Katsuko when she apologizes to him, his warmth toward her undaubted. Tanba the [[Repoussé and chasing|chasework]] silversmith is a sage figure who shows kindness to the people of the town, disarming a youth swinging a katana sword with understanding words and helping a burglar who broke into his house, first by giving him money and later denying to police that a robbery occurred.<ref name=burch/><ref>{{citation|last=Kusakabe |first=Kyūshirō (草壁久四郎) |title=Kurosawa Akira no Zenbō<!--黒澤明の全貌--> |publisher=Gendai Engeki Kyokai |year=1985 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RDx-AAAAIAAJ |page=108|isbn=9784924609129 }}</ref> After exploring the setbacks and anguish that surround many of the indigent characters, along with the dreams of escape that many of them support to maintain at least a superficial level of calm, the film comes full circle, returning to Roku-chan as he returns home, takes his imaginary tram conductor hat off, and hangs it up.
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