Charisma (Karisuma)

Release Year: 1999

Director:  Kiyoshi Kurosawa

Review: A film about a tree.  Not one of the most exciting premises but there is obviously much more under the surface in 'Charisma', a bizarre existential film by Kiyoshi Kurosawa.  Straight away the reoccurring motif of survival and the question of who deserves to live is brought up when Yabuike(Koji Yakusho), a police officer, fails to shoot a suspect who is holding a member of parliament hostage, hoping that both can live.  When the suspect shoots the hostage and later dies himself, Yabuike is blamed for his inaction.  He is forced to take a vacation, and seeks solitude in a remote forrest, only to find himself in the middle of a conflict between the local inhabitants over a rare tree.  The tree is cared for like a child by Kiriyama(Hiroyuki Ikechi), who befriends Yabuike.  Also interested in the tree are a group of men who roam the forrest looking for valuable trees, and want to acquire the tree to sell to a collector.  Another interested party is a botanist professor who insists that the tree is a secreting a poison and killing the forrest, and she wants to destroy the tree to save the forrest.  Yabuike at first stays neutral, not wanting to takes sides, but soon realizes that he must choose and decide the fate of the forrest he just happened to wander into.

The central theme which is at the heart of this film is the idea of an individual versus the collective.  Is one special tree worth more than the entire forrest?  Is one person in society more important than anyone else?  Who gets to live while the other dies?  In the city Yabuike was a police officer, an enforcer.  This is his role in the forrest too, and he is forced to answer these impossible questions.  Just as he did in the beginning of the film he wants to save both the tree and the forrest, but he knows that this is not possible.  Just as before, trying to save both will result in the death of both.  He eventually decides that there is no correct answer, and he does not want to be the enforcer, he just wants to be an average man.  He will save some trees, he will let others die.  The larger issue is one that is common in Kurosawa films, concerning the way society shapes the individual.  This is powerfully conveyed in the final scene of the film where Kurosawa, helping one of his injured enemies back towards the city which is ablaze.

While I do think there is a lot of allegorical meaning behind the film, it doesn't necessarily make it a wonderful viewing experience.  I spent a lot of the movie completely confused as to what was happening, which wasn't helped much by poorly lit shots and odd editing.    There was a lot going on in the film for such a basic plot, and not all of it worked.  A good portion of the odder scenes still make no sense to me at all.  This is definitely the kind of film which takes some time after viewing to sink in and is one that is more appreciated after viewing, then during.  It's not a fun film, and often is as dull as the premise sounds, but there is something to be gained by sticking it out and trying to work through it.
Rating: 3/5