Top Story: 28.February 2007

Hidden Territories of Human Mind

Rashomon, a movie based on Akutagawa's famous book, tells the story of a murder. A man is found dead in the forest, with a cut wound on his stomach. The facts end right there. Rest is for audience to decide.

The movie tells the story through eyes of the man's wife, a thief, a local priest, and a woodcutter. Each observer tell different story, and there really is seems to be no objective truth. You don't know who to believe.

Rashomon, directed by Akira Kurosawa was well ahead of it's time, not only because of it's stunning visuals but the experimental setting and story. Instead of a plot with a bad guy and his victims, the story digs deeper into human mind. Quoting the monk's words "I, for one, have seen hundreds of men dying like animals, but even I've never before heard anything as terrible as this."

The monk wondered if he really has lost his hope for human kind after hearing this story. The audience will, too.

It is the masculine Tajomaru, a deep character played by Toshiro Mifune, that draws the attention from the beginning. This crazy, many-sided, honest thief is just someone you soon start to love. It is interesting that Toshiro Mifune was cast in this role, but then I couldn't imagine a better choice. And the conservative woodcutter, Takashi "Ikiru" Shimura is just a natural, human like character. The wife Masako, (Machiko Kyo) seems only a statist from the beginning, but when she is finally unleashed, she becomes the most colourful and deep character of the film.

It is the wife that finally becomes one of the key characters. After she is raped by the Tajomaru, she starts to hesitate her love to her husband (Masayuki Mori), who glances at her with strange look. She gets attracted by the free and strong famous thief Tajomaru, while the sissy, fearful husband does almost nothing but coldly judges both the wife and the thief.

It is interesting that the bouraucratic, stable type of husband was portrayed to be such a pityful character. This must have struck some controversy back then in '50s. Perhaps this comes from Akutagawa's longing for anarchy, a world free of such boring characters.

Rashomon didn't feel like Kurosawa's movie. It could be because the movie apparently leans against the original novel that much. Ofcourse, there is Toshiro Mifune and Takashi Shimura in this movie, but somehow, when you think of Kurosawa's movies in general, this one does feel exceptional.

There are also hidden references to the movies of Kenji Mizoguchi's movies. The wife is crying in despair after being told to take her own life after she was seduced (or assaulted?) by Tajomaru. She is wondering what rights would married woman have. I don't know if the Akutagawa referred to this in his books or whether it was Kurosawa's choice, but I felt this was somehow an important detail.

Rashomon's camera work is simply stunning. The shadows of leaves and branches and the close feel of the forest makes a strong immersion of being there in the woods. Some of the audience felt eve uncomfortable about this as it really feels realistic. The cinematographer Kazuo Miyagawa did a fantastic job. Most memorable is the scene where the woodcutter (Takashi Shimura) walks into the forest and the camera follows him displaying the shadows of the branches, and then shoots him from below when he walks on a trunk. The camera movement is also very unique for the movies of this time, there are panning and elaborate trucking.

The Hollywood cannot simply beat this. They did try though, Memento, Pulp Fiction or Ghost Dog attempted somewhat similar concept. But they lack the mature appeal of Rashomon.

When I watched Rashomon first time, I thought "This is just like Nagisa Oshima movie! What did Nagisa Oshima think about this? But then I haven't read the book yet.

The title "Rashomon" comes from a Rashomon Gate in Kyoto. This location was in another story by Akutagawa. The story of the movie comes from Akutagawa's "In a Grove".

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