Rashomon - Criterion Collection
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Features
• Black & White
• DVD-Video
• Special Edition
• Subtitled
• NTSC
In Theaters : 1951
DVD Release : 26 March, 2002 |
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Rashomon - Criterion Collection description
This 1950 film by Akira Kurosawa is more than a classic: it's a cinematic archetype that has served as a template for many a film since. (Its most direct influence was on a Western remake, The Outrage, starring Paul Newman and directed by Martin Ritt.) In essence, the facts surrounding a rape and murder are told from four different and contradictory points of view, suggesting the nature of truth is something less than absolute. The cast, headed by Kurosawa's favorite actor, Toshiro Mifune, is superb. --Tom Keogh |
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Rashomon - Criterion Collection Customer Reviews
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♥♥♥♥♥
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A classic movie that raises fundamental questions
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"Rashomon" is one of the great movies for the ages. It challenges us to think about what "reality" might be, and leads us to wonder if we can truly comprehend "reality."
Let me begin this review with a fragment about postmodern perspectives. One key point here is that subject and object cannot be separated. We cannot "get outside" ourselves in order to objectively observe the world around us--including the world of human affairs. This is oversimplified, of course, but it provides one lens through which to consider Akira Kurosawa's great work, "Rashomon."
This 1950 film, starring Toshiro Mifune as a bandit, is based on what seems to be a straightforward event. A samurai is killed and his wife raped. The movie starts with three people seeking refuge from a heavy rain under a decayed gate in 12th century Japan. The three: a woodcutter, a priest, and a peasant. They begin talking about the incident just noted.
Then, we see the murder and rape through the eyes of the three people involved--the samurai, his wife, and the bandit. And each version (the dead samurai's version is provided through a medium) differs remarkably from the other two. In short, we have three eyewitnesses telling of a fundamentally different event. So, what is reality? That is the question at stake. And, to make matters even murkier, the woodcutter finally mentions that he had observed the whole scene himself--and his view was different still! Thus, four very distinct interpretations of a single event. The woodcutter's version might seem most plausible, but then he trips himself up by revealing something that raises questions about his motives.
Why speak of a postmodern perspective earlier in this review? Because postmodernists argue that it is difficult for people to step outside themselves and their unique perspectives and biases to observe "objective reality." And contemporary psychologists tell us the same: humans are remarkably able to distort reality to protect self-image and make their motives appear to be good (and competitors' to be not so good). In that sense, there is a great deal of human nature, psychology, and philosophy at stake in this movie.
Things sound pretty bleak, but the movie closes with an event that actually provides some hope that humans can produce value and make positive things happen.
All in all, a wonderful movie. Effects are pretty simple (the budget was unbelievably small). In the end, though, this is a movie well worth viewing, in large part because of the difficult questions that it raises.
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Rashomon - Criterion Collection dvd movie.