Rashomon

"I'm the one who should be ashamed. I don't understand my own soul."

Release Year: 1950

Director: Akira Kurosawa

Review: Akira Kurosawa does a crime movie, and does it well.  A samurai is killed and a women is raped.  These are the facts, and the rest is all conjecture.  The point of the movie isn't to figure out exactly what happened, but rather study the nature of lies and why people do it.  'Rashomon' is set in a very bleak time.  From the first shot the tone is set with a heavy rainstorm trapping a few people at the Rashomon gate, and one man repeatedly proclaiming to no one in particular "I can't understand it".  People are dying from natural disasters, disease and murders, and yet there is something that has been done that is so reprehensible that it leaves even these conditioned men unable to comprehend what they heard.  Knowing that this film was made just a few years after the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki adds another dimension to what can be taken away from the film as it can be viewed as commentary on the state of mind of that culture at such a sensitive time.

Being structured almost entirely in flashbacks, Kurosawa creates a masterpiece of subtlety.  We know just the final outcome, and we rely on, what is proven to be unreliable, testimony of those involved.  Hearing the same story told by the different participants is a telling insight into their personality and insecurities.  From each vantage point they make themselves look the best in their own mind, while at the same time condemning themselves.   This is the nature of the lie.  What is the correct version doesn't matter, but understanding the humanity behind the lies does.  Being guilty or not isn't what is important to these people, it is honor and reputation.  The film asks the question what it means to be a good person.  Can someone be good, or does everyone have an evil side to them?  All interactions and events have a personal bias, and even clear cut events are subject to interpretation and manipulation.  

The beauty behind Rashomon is the direction.  The care in which Kurosawa positions the story arches and the perfection in which he executes scenes in remarkable.  Everything is meticulously crafted and executed.  The originality Kurosawa brings to the scenes magnifies the impact of the message.  Throwing away convention, he goes for interesting shots which serve a purpose, creating a more expressive scene.  Shooting fight scenes with multiple cameras from different angles and the way he plays with light show his prowess for shooting outside the box.  In the climatic, and pathetic, final fight scene he shoots the two combating men straight on, as if they were battling us, almost exactly like the also beautifully shot 'Raging Bull'.  Its a reminder of the influence Kurosawa had on the film industry and how ahead of his time he was.  This is beautifully shot, and soundly conceived crime drama that goes way beyond the norm of the genre.
Rating: 4.5/5