PPT hosts Movie Nights with our members every now and then to learn skills about organizing. This month we wated IKIRU. Here are our reflections on what it taught us about community organizing and the value it has in our lives.
As part of our ongoing PPT Movie Night series, Pittsburghers for Public Transit showed the film IKIRU by the acclaimed director Akira Kurosawa. IKIRU takes on the question of finding meaning in a beautiful and moving manner.
To recap the film, an aging bureaucrat in a stifling job learns he only has months to live. (Sounds depressing, I know. Stick with us though)
The hero of the film, Mr Watanabe feels that he has never really lived and wants to do something to change that
First, he uses some of his life savings to seek out excitement – drinking and carousing. Predictably, this is tawdry and empty
Then he befriends a co-worker, a young woman brimming with joy and good humor. However he soon discovers that he cannot regain youth by merely being around someone young.
Finally he returns to work and takes up the cause of a group of mothers who want to see a toxic abandoned lot turned into a playground for their children.
From then on he uses his knowledge of the bureaucracy to push through creation of that playground. While that’s a small thing, the bureaucracy is resistant to change. Still, doggedly, he persists and succeeds. The children get their playground, he inspires (at least for a time) his coworkers and at last he finds the meaningful life he so desperately wanted.
Here are some lessons about organizing that PPT Members are taking away from the film:
- Ikiru showed me all the ways that bureaucracy stifles and distorts any meaningful civic change. A touching story about a man’s terminal illness moving him to actually make a difference using the power he has accumulated over 30 years of public (non)service. Even then, it seems community organizing rather than individual action is key in bringing about social change. – Abhishek Viswanathan
- Ikiru makes it clear that the grind of organizing is worth it. Even small wins matter when they’re fought for and shared by a community – Marcelese Cooper
- This story reminds me of the power of Persistence! When you fight, you have to keep showing up, even when all you’re hearing is “no.” The fact that you keep showing up is a victory in and of itself and people recognize that, the target of your actions definitely recognize that. Keep going, pa’ lante – Nicole Gallagher
- We don’t have to look very far to find the purpose and connection that can give our lives meaning. In the film it’s right there in the hero’s job, what he found so stifling and unfulfilling before. What can inspire us is often right in front of our noses – in the connection with our family, friends and neighbors and what we can do to help them. – Dean Mougianis
- The film reminded me of how much personal fulfilment we can get in our own lives from organizing together with our community. When we invest their heart/soul/capacity in bringing toether our neighborhood/friends/family/community to make life better, we find loads of inspiration, power, and fulfillment. – Dan Yablonsky