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The Most Beautiful
by Andrew Grant
[In celebration of Criterion"s AK 100: 25 Films by Akira Kurosawa box set, GreenCine Daily will be looking at four rare films only now available on DVD this week.]
Likely the rarest and least-seen title in the AK 100 box set, The Most Beautiful (1944) is Kurosawa"s second directorial effort, made one year after his successful debut, the Judo-themed Sanshiro Sugata. A bit of a sophomore slump, this overt bit of war propaganda is hard to praise from both an aesthetic and narrative perspective, but it"s not without its merits.
Opening with a title card that reads "Attack and Destroy the Enemy" and set entirely in an optical instruments factory that makes lenses for assorted Japanese weaponry, The Most Beautiful is a self-described Information Bureau "Movie of the People," designed to stir up nationalist fervor for the Imperial war effort. After a rousing speech about spiritual power producing material might and a need to increase quotas, the film follows the lives of the female factory workers who are disappointed to learn that their expected productivity increases aren"t as aggressive as their male coworkers. With youthful idealism and aplomb, they long to prove that their patriotism is unyielding, and are willing to make any and all sacrifices to meet their goals. When not working seemingly endless shifts at the factory, they are either back in their dormitory singing loyalist songs, or marching and singing even more jingoistic songs. They even talk proudly in their sleep about their jobs.