Rashomon

Akira Kurosawa, Japan, 1950, 88 minutes

The idea of the elusiveness of truth when recounted by parties involved versus the definitiveness of film is a concept cinema is ideal to explore. However, it has never been as originally or dramatically captured as in Akira Kurosawa’s Rashomon. The film depicts a tale of rape and murder in feudal Japan which is recounted after the fact, and thus cinematically created, from the perspective of the chief parties. Whilst the end result is always the same, the story differs with each person’s telling and in the end the truth itself makes little difference to anyone. The film begins and ends with a party of three people sheltering from the rain, one recounting the story to the others and thus framing the events within greater Japan. It is the fact that in the right circumstances, people are capable of anything that Kurosawa deftly conveys; and that in Japan at the time, reflected as Kyoto’s crumbling Rashomon Gate, society as a whole was being put in such dire circumstances.

The film is one of Kurosawa’s earliest and along with Stray Dog really began his golden period of filmmaking demonstrating his flair for drawing performances from actors and his immense originality in camerawork. Starring Toshirô Mifune and Takashi Shimura, the actors who would become Kurosawa’s staple players, the strong dramatic performances drive what is a deeply human piece. Critically acclaimed both internationally and in Japan it is credited as being the catalyst behind the creation of the Best Foreign Language Oscar. This was a landmark film both in Japanese cinema and also in liberating narrative structure.

Review by Peter Thompson
Written for EUFS Programme Spring 2004