Endure! : The Story of Toshiro Mifune

Author: Qiu Haitao
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-01-01
Features: Life, movies, marriage—a perfect story of loneliness and desolation! Zhang Yimou: Loneliness is something everyone has, just to varying degrees. Helplessness is also something everyone experiences, sometimes feeling particularly powerless. I think this is a common psychological trait of humanity and also a symptom of our time. —October 22, 2005, Beijing News
That night, Toshiro Mifune came alone to the Tama River. The river flowed quietly, as if the clamor of the day had settled deep beneath its surface. In the distance, a train rumbled across the iron bridge, and the lights inside the darkened carriage shone particularly bright, revealing the weary postures of the passengers. Mifune then realized what had happened around him. Regret and remorse, like a sharp knife, were carving at his heart, and he felt every vein in his body seeping with blood. He had acted in so many beloved films, portraying countless heroic figures with noble bearing, yet he couldn’t navigate the treacherous currents of real life or extinguish the flames of evil in people’s hearts. He hadn’t protected his beloved wife—wasn’t this a failure as a husband?! In the movie, he waved the vibrant "team flag," adorned with the talismanic "Fudō Myō-ō" to ward off evil, and sang the rough "Tang Lion Peony," so bold and spirited. Yet in this mortal world, he couldn’t even withstand the sharp words and treacherous actions of a mere woman.