“Ran” is a well acclaimed Japanese movie that was released in the Tokyo international film festival in the year 1985. Akira Kurosawa directed this movie was the most expensive Japanese movie that was ever made up to its release. This paper intends to discuss the movie Ran and focuses on interesting parts of this movie.
Ran is a Japanese epic that tells the story and downfall of Ichimonji clan. King Heditora calls his sons and suggests them to be united, and in order to corroborate his version, king displays, how one arrow is broken easily while it becomes difficult to break three arrows. The movie, apart from entertaining, educates audiences about the history and rites of ancient Japanese society. The movie further gives a broader message to the audiences about the human behavior and the society. An interesting aspect of the story is that the king expected loyalty from his heirs while he himself had acquired the kingdom by using violence and betrayal (Nakadai et al.). The movie also gives political message to the audiences. King was betrayed by his other sons and faced the consequences at the end of the story (Linton).
The second interesting aspect of this story is that the story of this movie reminds of William Shakespeare’s King Lear. Artists like Tatsuya Nakadai, Mieko Harada, Akira Terao, and Jinpachi Nezu did justice to their roles. Costume designing, music, cinematography are very strong aspects of the movie. The movie entertained audiences and earned acclamations. The movie also was nominated as well as awarded with some prestigious awards in different categories.
Works Cited
Linton, J. P. "Kurosawa's Ran (1985) and King Lear: Towards a Conversation on Historical Responsibility." Quaterly Review of Film and Video, 23(4) (2006): 341-351.
Ran. Dir. Akira Kurosawa. T. Nakadai, A. Terao, J. Nezu, D. Ryu, M. Harada, Y. Miyazaki & Peter. 1985.
