Review of Rashomon (1950) by Arshi R — 18 Aug 2009

The Greatest Films, a Review.

Grade: A+.

To really feel how innovative this movie is, you probebly would have had to have seen it back in the 50's. But luckily, as humans, we can suspend our perspective of the present, and pretend we havent seen movies such as courage under fire, or the usual suspects, or many other films whose style of narrative and form can in fact be traced back to this landmark in the realm of perspective.

Perspective is what the film is all about. four different perspectives of one murder, told in flashback. each flashback goes back to the murder of a samurai and the rape and attack of his wife at the hands of a bandit.

Each flashback of the three people involved give different characterizations of the same charachters, and what becomes apparent is that behind each perspective is an interior motive; meaning that each storyteller tries to save face in their own, unique way.

The two men who bear witness to the testimony at the courthouse are a priest and a woodcutter, both of which saw the trifecta in the hours before the husbands death. The woodcutter has multiple perspectives of what happened, and he will have to face his own divergent recollections head on by the films end; he may also be trying to save face in his own way.

The film is humorous, striking, mythological, allegorical, human, and enigmatic in its various portayals of the same people. The story is easily transported to any time or place, a reason for its universal acclaim. ive seen it twice now and have come to realize that this film is one of those rare ones that may be understood in a variety of ways, and that conclusions about the actual murder may be tweaked to a viewers varying interpretations of the characters.

The film does condemn our lack to be able to grasp a concrete truth among a whirlwind of perspectives; however I think it is also saying that eventually, if the truth can be found somewhere, even if it is a partial truth, a fragment of the truth, then we do have some small victory as humans.

The film also has time to shed light on our lack of compassion in that we are increasingly less phased by the murder of those around us, and that one unsolved murder is nothing more than one unsovled murder, like a drop in a bottomless bucket. The film does ,however, finely balance this with rays of hope in a few choice moments.

This is a classic.10/10.