Akira Kurosawa's Rashomon

Title: Rashomon
Director: Akira Kurosawa
TRT: 1hr 28 min
Year-1951
Awards: 1951 Venice Film Festival Golden Lion: Akira Kurosawa

Directed by the great Akira Kurosawa, “Rashomon” is actually based on two stories by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa. The first one is Rashomon which provides the setting for the film and the second is In the Grove, providing the film with the characters and plot-line. The film tells the story of a rape of a woman and the murder of her husband. The story is told from different viewpoints such as from the bandit, the woman, the murdered husband, and the narrator. The theory of film that this falls under is psychoanalytical. Kurosawa focuses on human nature and what people will in the name of honor as well as in shame. In the movie, the woman wants her husband murdered because of the shame she has do to being being raped by the thief.
The first article I found is an online article entitled “Rashomon (Film). It is a very in depth article about the film. One of things interesting about the article is that it talks about the motivations of each character in the film. In the bandit’s version, he accepts blame but tells that duel between him and the samurai was an honorable one. In the wife’s version, she feels morally guilty so she says that she stabbed her husband. In the husband’s version, who is dead at the time they are each telling their story, is told through a medium, he is ashamed to what happened in the woods. The article also talks about other things suck as how Kurosawa was influenced by silent films. He states, “I like silent pictures and I always have ... I wanted to restore some of this beauty. I thought of it, I remember in this way: one of techniques of modern art is simplification, and that I must therefore simplify this film." One last tidbit from the article is that it talks about the lighting in the film. The film uses sunlight to symbolize evil and sin in the film. An example is when the woman sees the sun and gives in to the bandit’s desire.
The second article is from Literature Film Quarterly entitled “Light and Darkness in Rashomon.” In the article they look at the different things about human nature. The light side (the good side) and the dark (the bad side). The film also shows the light through the use of sunlight and the dark by the rain and the ruined Rashomon gate. The article states the light represents reason and the dark represents human impulses. An example of the light. At the end of the movie, the woodcutter leaves with the infant they find at the end of the movie in his arms. This represents the potential harmony.
I have seen Rashomon a couple of times. It is an extremely well-made movie. It also shows how great of a director Akira Kurosawa is. He is able to use only three settings which are the ruined gate, the woods, and the courtyard and weave and interesting and complex story out of them. The cinematography with the use of sunlight is remarkable and the dialogue is sharp. This film has also influenced other mother with its use of telling stories from different points of view. One recent movie I can think of off the top of my head is Vantage Point that uses this. Rashomon is one of the best foreign films ever made.

Sources:

1.) http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Rashomon_(film)

2.) McDonald, Keiko I. "Light and Darkness in Rashomon." Literature Film Quarterly 10.2 (1982): 120. Communication & Mass Media Complete. EBSCO. Web. 29 Nov. 2010.