Question: Build a movie plot around this: Who teaches Dr. Yasumoto what it means to be a doctor? Dr. Niide (Akahige)
Answer:
In 1820, young Dr. Yasumoto, returned to Edo after graduating from Dutch medical school in Nagasaki. He presented himself at the public clinic managed by Dr. Niide (Toshiro Mifune), aka Akahige (Red Beard- because of the color of his beard), thinking it was merely a courtesy call arranged by his father (who also a physician).To his surprise and displeasure, he found that out he was expected to work there for a while. Yasumoto didn't find anything to his liking. He found out that the doctors were expected to sacrifice sun (the patients needed the sunny rooms), heat (better for the soul), and tatami (Japanese comfortable bedding). Extremely upset & frustrated because he had hoped to find a prestigious post as a shogun's personal physician, Yasumoto rebelled by not doing what he was supposed to do and refusing to follow the rules. He would not wear the traditional clinic doctor's uniform, refused to eat, drank sake (though it was forbidden) and complained that the patients stank (which one of his colleague at the clinic called "the smell of poverty"). He reclined on the lawn in front of an isolated ward reserved for a murderous female mental patient (which he had been warned to avoid). In short, he believed he was too good for this under-funded public clinic-that the job and patients were beneath him. His goal was to be asked to leave.One night, the mental patient escaped from her ward. Dr. Niide & nurse Osugi went out looking for her. The escaped patient (nicknamed the Mantis) showed up in Yasumoto's bedroom. She told Yasumoto the story of her life, how men had raped her many times, beginning at age 9. They threatened to kill her if she ever denounced them and she kept quiet. Finally, after a few years, she had had enough of the sexual abuse and snapped-- killing three men (thus the name Mantis). She was quite beautiful and Yasumoto succumbed to her charms. She seduced him, with the intention of killing him. Dr. Niide came back, just in time, to save him. Red Beard excused him for being drunk & for his...