Kamisama no Karute ~ 神様のカルテ

I actually almost drop this movie when it first came out because of the over promotion and over hyped done. I’m not even living in Japan but I can imagine that I’ll see Sho-chan almost everywhere when the movie was out and especially when he also had Nazodi drama lined up after this movie last year. Off course, although I kind of sick of Sho-chan during this period (gomen ne), I still bought the book. Yes, I bought the book, and as predicted I haven’t finished it until now and I just watched the movie. The book itself is quite difficult to read for me because of the medical terms as my Japanese is very limited, and luckily I waited until I have the sub to watch this movie, else I won’t understand a thing. But I do glad that I watch it because it’s a beautiful heart warming movie and I’m definitely touched with it.

Kamisama no Karute is about the life of Dr Kurihara Ichito, an internist working at a small hospital in Nagano prefecture. Often to be on duty in ER, Ichito deals with lots of different types of patients, from the alcoholics (lots of patients even try to justify their drinking habits with numerous method, from being hysterical to even testing Ichito’s reaction) to the focus of this movie, terminal cancer patients. At home, Ichito lives with his wife, Haru, the landscape photographer and another 2 housemates, the scholar and the painter. The movie often narrated by Ichito himself as the story is told based on Ichito’s point of view. So, what’s so touching about this movie.

What I like the most about this movie, aside from the obviously beautiful scenery and OST, is the message. This movie shows how humans are powerless no matter how knowledgeable or how high-tech they become when it comes to life and death. This is what Ichito went through in the movie. We see Ichito feels so powerless when he was in dilemma whether to ease Tagawa-san, the first terminal ill patient in the movie, from the pain with risking his life, or just watching him in pain due to the complication. When Tagawa-san was dying, Ichito did the CPR so that Tagawa-san’s family can be with him during his dying moment, but he couldn’t fight death. With the other patient, Azumi-san, Ichito cared for her that it gave Azumi-san memories during the last days of her life. Off course the moment when Azumi-san died, we see again Ichito’s sadness that another life just disappeared. However, what’s touching is Azumi-san’s thankfulness that due to Ichito’s care, she experienced a ‘warm and illuminating’ life again after the death of her husband.

This movie also shows that humans will always try to fight against illnesses hence we have the glimpse that the medical field is always in search for the best treatment, best method, best medicine to fight sickness and to prolong our lives.  We get to see how having technology on our side can save more lives. But at the end of the day, when we know our days are numbered, it’s the care that we received from our surroundings that counts. We get to see that Ichito was given to choose which world he’d like to be in, the research world (better welfare) or the practical world (the life of underpaid and overworked doctors), and off course, this is a movie, you know which one Ichito will choose.

I have said that this movie is beautiful, and I’m going to say it again, it’s a beautiful movie. The strongest scene for me is when the movie title flashed out from the sunrise scenery that Haru was taking with her camera along with the OST background. It shows me that God exists and such beautiful scenery is His creation. And off course, all those beautiful sceneries at the end of the movie are so soothing and red and yellow leaves of the autumn sceneries definitely warm up your heart. I also like the scene where Azumi is staring at the window on the end of the hospital hallway on her wheelchair. You’d want to see what Azumi-san is seeing through that window. Is it the past world where her husband was still alive? Another beautiful scene is when Haru whispered to Ichito that she’s pregnant. We can’t hear the whisper but it’s so full of love that we know what’s going on, and off course another hint given from Ichito’s reaction upon hearing it.

I’m not going to go through the acting points because this movie is not about the actors, the story matters most here, and you’ll see that it’s packaged neatly for our consumption.

So, yes, I’m really glad that I watched this movie and for once I can forgive the over promotion part because at least this one doesn’t disappoint me *yeah, I’m looking at you Nazodi and Lucky Seven*.