Bachman, Gideon and Federico Fellini. “A Guest in My Own Dreams: An Interview with Federico Fellini.”Film Quarterly. Vol. 47, No. 3, Spring. 1994, 2-15. JSTOR University of California Press. University of Pennslvania Library, Philadelphia. 4 April 2008 <http://www.jstor.org/stable/1212955>

Gideon Bachmann’s interview covers several Fellini films and discusses his process in making a film. Fellini admits to often being the inspiration for the main characters in his films. He agrees that there are loose references to his life when his films are within a specific stretch of time and cover certain contexts. He says he gives to the characters in his films to establish a more accurate representation of real life. Fellini talks about fascism as a type of strain on his childhood. American films were a relief as a child, because they were a break from the lies of the church and the fascist dictatorship. He called reality “completely falsified” under fascism. As a child, he was forced to confine to the fascist ideal and lost all freedom and honesty. He had to avoid things that were forbidden. Fascism had a way over most children his age, who believed that war was the key to living and they dreamed of dying in war.

This interview puts forth Fellini’s opinions of fascism and it reveals the characters of his films as being forms of himself, throughout his life. The main character in his film Amarcord is also a loose version of himself. His distaste for fascism is evident not only in this interview, but also in Amarcord, where fascism is mocked and ridiculed for its absurdity.

Bold, Alan. “ A disturbed, despotic director.” The Herald (Glasgow). 23 October 1993, 19. LexisNexis . University of Pennslvania Library, Philadelphia. 4 April 2008
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Federico Fellini is recognized as one of the greatest talents in modern cinema, and author John Baxter has written a book--Fellini--about the director’s life. Critic Alan Bold analyzes Baxter’s work in this piece. Bold argues that Fellini’s popularity is a result of him incorporating a confessional-style into movie-making and he finds that Fellini fans--and he calls Baxter such a fan--are more interested in his personality, than anything. The filmmakers self-love was evident, when Sight and Sound magazine polled major international directors for a top-ten list and Fellini was the only one to include his own work in his list. Fellini once also confessed to being the inspiration for the main character in his film Eight and a Half.

Fellini was known for being a bully in his youth and he is presented as something of a terror in Baxter’s book. Fellini is described as an individual obsessed with himself and power. This power is exemplified by his dominant presence in a film. Fellini not only relates himself to the main character of Eight and a Half, but also incorporates personal sentiments into other films, such as Amarcord. Amarcord is frequently referred to as a critique of fascism, by Fellini himself and other critics, however Baxter’s book has a different analysis. Alan Bold mentions Fellini’s dabble with fascism in his youth. Fellini was a fascist at the age of 19 and drew cartoons for fascist magazines. Baxter’s book regards Amarcord to be more of a personal apology.

As the introduction to Alan Bold’s piece suggests, Fellini is in fact “as distrubed as the characters he creates”, because Fellini’s life experiences and personal reflections are precisely incorporated into his films. Fellini was known to make films based on the experiences of his life. His honest, true-to-life style in Amarcord, makes one have to believe that this is a story that he is familiar with. The main character is exposes the flaws of his characters, for failing to prevent fascism. However, we also learn from this piece that Fellini was once a fascist and felt he owed an apology. His attack on the indifference of the characters in Amarcord is also a personal vendetta with himself--the failure of his characters to see what was happening to their country, was in fact his own juvenile failure.

While the text doesn’t make many outright references to Ikiru (there are only two), the story of Kurosawa’s life allows for a deeper understanding of the reasons behind the directorial choices made in Ikiru.  The autobiography is divided up in a few different ways; one of which is a division into “eras” in the life of Kurosawa, such as “Rashomon,” which focuses on the making of the film and the enormous critical success it achieved overseas (it won the Grand Prix at the Venice International Film Festival and the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film).  The autobiography is also interspersed with memories from Kurosawa at from various points in his life, like the chapter, “Calligraphy,” which tells how Kurosawa learned the art from his teacher.  The autobiography ends with his thoughts on Rashomon, so Kurosawa never goes into detail about Ikiru (because Ikiru was filmed after Rashomon), but we get the groundwork for what would cause his interest in the subject matter of the film.
Discussing the film Drunken Angel, Kurosawa recounts, “As background to the characterizations, we decided to create an unsightly drainage pond where people threw their garbage” (156), which is an image that returns in Ikiru, although it has a different allegorical meaning.  Many plot elements and images from Kurosawa’s films were taken straight from his life (a point made by Goodwin in his book ), and Ikiru is no different.  Kurosawa says of the studio he began his career at, “Management theory at P.C.L. regarded the assistant directors as cadets who would later become managers and directors” (95).  The bureaucratic elements in the management system at P.C.L., that Kurosawa criticizes, has echoes in the stagnant and immutable Japanese civil service in Ikiru.
Events from his life also influenced Kurosawa in the existential themes he deals with in Ikiru.  Kurosawa recounts, in the chapter “A Horrifying Event,” an early scene from his childhood, when he and his brother walked around the city looking at the death and destruction caused by the Kato Earthquake.  His brother uncomfortably forces him to look at the hundreds of dead bodies, but when Kurosawa goes to sleep, he does not have any nightmares.  When the young Kurosawa asks why he didn’t have any nightmares, his brother responds, “If you shut your eyes to a frightening sight, you end up being frightened.  If you look at everything straight on, there is nothing to be afraid of.”   This message has deep significance to Ikiru, because Watanabe is only able to live when he confronts his cancer head on.  When he lies in his bed at home and cries himself to sleep, when he goes with the writer to experience the decadence of modern Tokyo, he is, in effect, trying to ‘shut his eyes’ to the cancer and ignore its existence.  Only when he faces it head on, does he realize that he has the power to give his limited life meaning.  There are many other events in Kurosawa’s life that have relevance to Ikiru, because it is a film about life itself and the search for meaning in life.  Kurosawa’s past offers insight into not only why the author chose to write about this subject, but also why he comes to the conclusions that he does.