I Live In Fear - Record Of A Living Being DVD

A film by Akira Kurosawa

Obsessed with the constant threat of nuclear holocaust, wealthy foundry owner Nakajima (Toshiro Mifune) decides to move his entire family to Brazil but meets with strong resistance when his children realise their inheritance would be severely diminished. They retaliate by applying to the family court to judge him mentally incompetent and family squabble of unusual proportions ensues. Though civil servant Harada (Takashi Shimura) empathises with Nakajima he becomes powerless to help the old man when the struggle is not only with a cold-hearted family, but against insanity itself.

Filmed at the height of the Cold War, when the destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were still in recent memory, I Live in Fear is both an important film from one of the world's finest directors, and a biting social commentary that retains its relevance today.