Which Kurosawa film centers on industrialist Kiichi Nakajima's fear of nuclear war?
Answer
I Live in Fear
Answer
I Live in Fear
The Kurosawa film centered on industrialist Kiichi Nakajima's fear of nuclear war is I Live in Fear.
Also known as Record of a Living Being, the 1955 film follows Nakajima, an aging foundry owner who becomes convinced that nuclear weapons make Earth unsafe. He wants to move his large family to Brazil, believing emigration is the only realistic escape from atomic destruction, but his relatives view the plan as irrational and financially ruinous.
Toshiro Mifune plays Nakajima in a notably aged and heavily made-up performance. The story unfolds through a family court case, where relatives seek legal control over his affairs. Kurosawa uses the dispute to examine whether fear of nuclear annihilation is madness or a rational response to the Cold War and the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
The film is sometimes confused with Kurosawa's later antiwar dramas, but its central conflict is domestic and psychological. Its title emphasizes Nakajima's belief that merely surviving in a nuclear age can itself be a form of fear-filled living.
Source: Wikipedia · fact-checked Sept. 2026