Rashomon, Ikiru-Review

 After watching Ikiru in class, I was struck by Akira Kurosawa's directing style and Shimura Takeshi's acting. Due to the distinctive nature of Ikiru, I was curious to examine what aspects's of Kurosawa's directing changed depending on the plot and stylistic choices of the film. To provide a means to that end, I chose to review the film Rashomon. While Ikiru was viewed very favorably, Rashomon was the film that began Kurosawa's international career. Rashomon was released in 1950, while Ikiru was released in 1952. I was also interested in Rashomon as Mizenko Sensei always spoke highly of it.

Rashomon's scenery is more minimalistic, drawing influence from silent films. Rashomon has only 3 different environments, the gate; Rashomon, the grove, and the imperial courtyard. Rashomon opens underneath the deteriorating gate, introducing the viewer to the woodcutter, priest, and peasant, all taking refuge from the rain. The woodcutter and the priest are both very distraught, consumed by the story of a notorious bandit, Tajomaru, charged for rape and murder. To pass the time, the peasant listens to them recount the different versions of events from each of the witnesses. Those present for the murder; the bandit, wife, and murdered samurai husband, all recount their plausible, but incompatible versions of the tale. Tajomaru recounts that he had a duel in which the husband was killed after the wife professed that could not live with the knowledge that two men of her dishonor. In the woman's version, she is rejected by her husband and hysterically kills him in her grief. Through a medium, the samurai tells his story, in which Tajomaru asks his wife to go with him. The wife agrees, but asks the bandit to murder her husband. Enraged, Tajomaru abandons her, and the man kills himself.

After the stories have been told, the woodcutter is overcome with grief and admit that he too, saw the events unfold. However, his story is also different. In his story, Tajomaru begs the woman to marry him, however she instead frees her husband, and spurs her husband and Tajomaru to fight each other, although they are both initially unwilling. Tajomaru seems to win the battle almost through accident, and then proceeds to cowardly kill the samurai whom begs for his life as the wife flees. At first seeming to be the most unbiased of all of the tales, the priest is quick to discover that the woodcutter had stolen a valuable dagger from the scene. Everything now seems more hopeless than ever, when suddenly, a baby's cries are heard . While the peasant seizes the opportunity to create more misdeeds by stealing the baby's clothing, the woodcutter redeems himself in front of the priest by adopting the baby into his already large family of six.

Rashomon asks questions about human perceptions and realities, and also of the nature of the human spirit. This is shown through the characters of the woodcutter and the priest. The woodcutter questions himself and his reality throughout the film; unable to even discern whether his version of events is true. The priest questions humanity; unable to decide whether humanity can really be 'good' or if everything is conducted out of selfishness. It is not until the end of the film when the priest sees the woodcutter with all of his flaws, but also as a human being capable of compassion that he reconsiders.

To me, this also brings up the question of how we should live our lives, which is also heavily focused upon in Ikiru. In Ikiru, Watanabe, after being shaken with the knowledge of his impending death, searches for meaning in his life, and finds it when he makes a difference in the lives of others. In Rashomon, The woodcutter and priest are similarly shaken, both questioning their perception of the world and human nature. In both films, we see that those whom selflessly give to others become more fulfilled and at peace. In contrast, those whom do not break the mold; Watanabe's selfish coworkers, the peasant, are able to provide only shallow happiness for themselves; they do not live a full life.

Rashomon's view of the human spirit is cautiously hopeful. Many of the characters in Rashomon are entirely selfish, and never act for the common good. It is revealed that even the woodcutter stole a valuable knife from the scene. However, his faults are revealed to not necessarily be 'bad', as the sale of the knife very well may have gone towards feeding his 6 children. When the woodcutter also chooses to adopt the baby that appears at the end of the film, restoring the priest's and the viewer's faith in humanity. The baby itself also marks the potential for positive growth in humanity, and the rain finally stops falling to reflect this.

Both Watanabe and the woodcutter are played by Shimura Takeshi, and both roles present a character whom struggles with their flaws, yet manage to live with them while

questioning and eventually bettering themselves. Although the transformation of the woodcutter is not as great as Watanabe's complete life perspective change, the viewer is nonetheless presented with an identifiable, human character whom now looks to find his place in the world. In making Watanabe and the woodcutter question themselves, Kurosawa asks the audience to question themselves, and challenge how they see their lives.

Rashomon's question of reality based upon perception is reinforced by its minimalistic scenery. With only 3 locations present in the film, the viewer is forced to become even more apparent of how the film itself distorts their perception of reality. This simultaneously makes the viewer pay heightened attention to the events of the film while also considering what they think to know to be reality. The characters in the film also also often masked in both shadow and light; both the dappled light shining through the trees and the mist from the rain help to conceal and break up the characters, helping to make the events of the film seem even more ambiguous, which also creates the same effect.

In Ikiru, the events of the film were presented much less ambiguously. Instead, the viewer followed the dogged Watanabe, becoming more involved in the events of his life than in their perception. For these reasons, viewers were made more susceptible to film techniques, rather than being made aware of them. This was also reinforced by the plot, where Watanabe is suddenly removed from the story, just as death is sudden.

However, in comparing these two films, we see that Kurosawa has excellent control over his viewer's perceptions and utilizes this depending on what aspect of the film he wants to emphasize.Through Rashomon and Ikiru, Kurosawa is able to tell a compelling story while also looking for self reflection from his viewers. By utilizing plot, cinematography, and set design, Kurosawa explores both the human and the story.

While Ikiru explored what leads to fulfillment in live, Rashomon explored how the human character changes how one sees the world. By doing so, it also shows us how fragile our perception is, and how different the world may seem to someone else. It also shows how this differences can breed distrust and misunderstanding; but that attempts to trust and understand others offer more fulfillment than distrust. This new found trust symbolized by the baby at the end of the film; something untainted and hopeful for new growth. However, Rashomon also clearly exposes the faults of the world and humanity. Ikiru also shows a hopeful message while also giving the viewer a dark reality.