Ikimono no kiroku

As Akira Kurosawa's I LIVE IN FEAR begins, Harada (Takashi Shimura), a soft-spoken dentist, is summoned during a hot summer day to his volunteer position at the Tokyo Family Court. He dutifully responds and arrives to hear a family dispute in a sweltering court room. However, the case is far from clear-cut; it involves Nakajima (Toshir Mifune), a rich elderly industrialist who is utterly convinced that his family will only be safe from the threat of the nuclear bomb by moving to Brazil. His relatives (including his wife and various daughters, sons, mistresses, and illegitimate children) are almost unanimously opposed to his plan and aim to have him declared "incompetent," which would negate his authority over both the family and his company. Although the bullheaded Nakajima does come across as bitter and eccentric, Harada begins to empathize the curmudgeonly man and his almost paralyzing fear of the atomic bomb. When the judgment is finally made, it sets off a tragic series of events that will leave both Nakajima and Harada irrevocably changed. (officiële tekst van distribiteur)