size versus ferocity

His documentaries and films obsessively examine humanity's fragile insignificance against overwhelming natural and primal forces, from grizzly bears to volcanoes.

He repeatedly contrasts individual human vulnerability with the destructive power of nature and war, most memorably in films like Ran and Dersu Uzala.

His thriller narratives pit ordinary-sized protagonists against towering institutional and psychological forces that dwarf their personal agency and survival.