Michael George
10/14/2010
Rashomon
Total Running Time: 01:28:00
Language: Japanese
Director: Akira Kurosawa
Awards: "Golden Line," 1951 Venice Film Festival, "Honorary Award," 24th Academy Awards
Rashomon is a 1951 Japanese film that tells the story of a rape of a woman and the murder of her husband from four different perspectives; the bandit, the woman, her husband, and a woodcutter. Each story is different during various parts, but each story also contains a bit of a truth about what really happened. Several types of film theories are displayed in Rashomon. I feel the two biggest theories present in this movie are psychoanalysis and marxist. The psychoanalitical theory tends to lean more in the direction of the film acturately portraying human nature. Rashomon obvoiulsy portays human nature in the ways that it shows the evil that people do to each other, the fact that everyone lies, and while there are lots of horrible people in the world, there is still some hope for change in humanity in the future. The marxist theory states that the plot of the film is moved around by the groups of characters in the film, not just by the central, main character. The bandit in this film is who I feel is the main character, as the events seen in Rashomon come directly from his poor choices. However, the the husband and wife have the same equal value, and the woodcutter and priest also add to the plot of the movie through their little side plot.
Also visible in this film is the feminist view, as well as the formalist view. I think that maybe the film maker was trying to show how weird the treatment of women is in Japan. I just didn't understand the whole "I've been raped, please kill me, husband," situation and thought it was silly. Maybe he was trying to play this silliness off as a way to poke at the almost nonvaluable opinions towards women at the time. The formalist theory was pointed out to me in class on wednesday. Formalist theories play more into production values such as lighting, sound, shots, etc. The use of the music which would almost fit into a western and the "first ever" shot of the sun in film was used for a specific purpose.
The two sources I used for Rashomon can be viewed here and here. The first article talks about how "ground breaking" Rashomon was because it was proof that foreign films could survive in other markets around the world. An interesting production note is that in some shots Kurosawa tinted the rain black with ink. Next, it talks about how Rashomon left the ending up to viewer interpretation. Its next main point is how another underlying central theme of the film is ego and that having an ego your whole life is one of the hardest things to redeem yourself from. In the second article, it gives a breakdown of the opening scene where the woodcutter is walking through the jungle. The picture below is described by some as "among the most sensuous moving camera shots in cinema history." If one were to break down the woodcutters walking scene by direction, it becomes clear that he is walking in circles. This plays into the theme of lying and embellishing so much that you get caught up in your own lies.
The two production notes I learned from my two articles only proves more that Rashomon can be classified as a formalist film. Again, a formalist film being one that focuses on production techniques as a way of telling the story. The black tinted rain relates directly to the mood of the story, the lies each man was telling, and the despair that the priest felt towards humanity as a whole. The walking scene was a subtle way of relating actions to themes in the film, something I think very few people have actually realized. Stumbling onto the church during the rainstorm could be a big metaphor for the woodcutter finding the truth in life. Once the rain stops, he decides to raise the baby unselfishly. Again, the production of rain in the film was directly related to a character's thoughts and actions.
Compared to 400 Blows, I really liked this film. It was slow at first and I almost didn't understand what was happening until the second side of the story was told. The "Rashomon Effect" was mentioned in class, and I think I've seen this done in other films before. For example, because we're so close to Halloween, The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005) has a similar plot as the trial of a deceased woman is shown from the perspective of the priest, the girls father, and by legal officials. Three stories on the same tale, all of which are different but have some bit of truth. As I stated above, the only real downside of this movie was the Japanese culture and their treatment of women. I kind of wanted to be the obnoxious one in the theatre and be like, "Kick his ass!" or "Don't let your husband look at you like that." I'm kind of an equal opportunist type of guy. Either way, the film made me have some sort of reaction which is what film making is all about.
SOURCES:
"Into The Woods: A Rashamon Sequence Analysis." Pacze Moj. 23 February 2009. http://mubi.com/notebook/posts/391
"Rashamon." Patrick Tatara. http://www.tcm.com/thismonth/article.jsp?cid=136021&mainArticleId=160926
The two production notes I learned from my two articles only proves more that Rashomon can be classified as a formalist film. Again, a formalist film being one that focuses on production techniques as a way of telling the story. The black tinted rain relates directly to the mood of the story, the lies each man was telling, and the despair that the priest felt towards humanity as a whole. The walking scene was a subtle way of relating actions to themes in the film, something I think very few people have actually realized. Stumbling onto the church during the rainstorm could be a big metaphor for the woodcutter finding the truth in life. Once the rain stops, he decides to raise the baby unselfishly. Again, the production of rain in the film was directly related to a character's thoughts and actions.
Compared to 400 Blows, I really liked this film. It was slow at first and I almost didn't understand what was happening until the second side of the story was told. The "Rashomon Effect" was mentioned in class, and I think I've seen this done in other films before. For example, because we're so close to Halloween, The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005) has a similar plot as the trial of a deceased woman is shown from the perspective of the priest, the girls father, and by legal officials. Three stories on the same tale, all of which are different but have some bit of truth. As I stated above, the only real downside of this movie was the Japanese culture and their treatment of women. I kind of wanted to be the obnoxious one in the theatre and be like, "Kick his ass!" or "Don't let your husband look at you like that." I'm kind of an equal opportunist type of guy. Either way, the film made me have some sort of reaction which is what film making is all about.
SOURCES:
"Into The Woods: A Rashamon Sequence Analysis." Pacze Moj. 23 February 2009. http://mubi.com/notebook/posts/391
"Rashamon." Patrick Tatara. http://www.tcm.com/thismonth/article.jsp?cid=136021&mainArticleId=160926
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