Ikimono no kiroku

My own view of this movie, having just watched it, is that it's a typically moralistic piece from Kurosawa. His protagonist, wonderfully portrayed by Mifune, is a man who has made his life impossible by his philandering behaviour. He has three families altogether; none of whom really regard him with much affection.

I feel the "fear of the hydrogen bomb" is merely his ideation; a way to explain to himself, in his denial, why his life has gradually become impossible to live. As one of the other characters remarks: 'everyone is scared of the bomb, nowhere is safe.'

After he made Rashomon a Buddhist clergyman of high rank said to Kurosawa: "for the benefit of all mankind." I believe all of Kurosawa's movies are highly moral tales.