Day 49: Rashomon

"Don't worry about it. It isn't as if men are reasonable."

Rashomon is much more than a mystery film. It’s a close analysis of ethics and morals that us humans pretend to obey, in order to live in a civilized manner. Kurosawa is the blueprint. It’s well-documented that before Kurosawa, no director had the ability to combine thought-provoking plotlines with the appeal that most Hollywood films today have. In Rashomon, the idea that all man is evil is explored and put to the test while three witnesses of an alleged murder each give their own interpretation of the event. In this crime story, the murderer is the least important aspect of the investigation. It falls second to the point of view of all those who are involved and how in each of their stories, they are the ones who seem the most innocent.

The film begins with a conversation between three individuals: A priest, a woodcutter and an unnamed individual. Both the priest and the woodcutter are in absolute shock of what they’ve seen only three days ago: a murder that no man was ever thought capable of performing. We cut to a type of courthouse hearing where the murderer/rapist/bandit is in custody and is tied up by the man who was able to bring him into custody. Allegedly, this bandit (Toshiro Mifune) is responsible for the murder of a Samurai ( Masayuki Mori) and the rape of his wife ( Machiko Kyo). The audience hears the story of the murder by the bandit, the wife, the wife’s dead husband and finally the woodcutter. Each story is contradictory and don’t even out with the events that the other witness described. All stories being bias, we hear the actual narrator give his own take of the murder (this version of the story ends up being the least bias) and are furthermore unclear of what the “truth” is. Like I said, this film a lot more than just a mystery film. The truth isn’t nearly as horrifying as the accounts of the murder that are depicted by all the characters. The unnamed individual that I brought up earlier seems to be the realist out of the crop and the only one who is able to recognize the lies that are being told by all those who are involved. He is the anchor of this film; the one who reminds the audience that relying on these people to tell the truth is a waste of time. Although this unnamed individual may seem ruthless, he points out the cowardice in the woodcutter’s version of the story and goes on to prove that all men are unable to admit the truth to themselves and would rather lie to please their psyches.

This is a film that dares you to trust the storyteller and have no choice to disregard the credibility or lack thereof each individual or medium that was involved in this alleged murder. Kurosawa brings all of this together without ever cheating the audience and every outlandish attribute of the film is justified by the ending and the last moral lesson teaches you: Man will always refuse to sacrifice himself for the greater good; the truth.