Philosophy of “Rashomon”
“Rashomon” by Akira Kurosawa is a Japanese drama shot in 1950. Based on the two novels by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa ("Rashomon" and "In a Grove"), the film depicts several stories of the same incident. The name of the film is the name of the city gate in Kyoto. It is the point where the film begins and where the woodcutter and the priest tell their incredible story to the commoner. The release of the Japanese movie was a real breakthrough – among its awards, it won the Golden Lion and the Academy Honorary Award.
The film aims to demonstrate the controversial picture of the human nature – in the difficult conflicting situation, the witnesses always give different statements, because the perception of reality and what the person sees is individual and depends on his inner world. And these characteristics are not at all specifically Japanese – they are universal. People are the same throughout the world. Different versions of the same fact also appear due to the people’s sin – lying. The person gets it from his birth and doesn’t get rid of it until he dies (even after death, the samurai lies through the medium). Soon the term “the Rashomon effect” appeared – it refers to different interpretations of the same event by its witnesses.
As the implied judge in the film, the spectator is drawn to different sorts of judgment in the courtroom – truth and lie, honor and disgrace. The characters assembled at the Rashomon gate (woodcutter, priest, commoner) reveal the philosophy of such judgments as theft and greediness, egocentrism and generosity. The idea of the movie is that no one is perfect, and everyone thinks only about himself and cannot but sin.
Being one of the masterpieces in the cinema history, “Rashomon” is significant for its storytelling and cinematography. The story is narrated in the non-linear order, that is to say it is told not in chronological order. The narration is realized by the stories of the characters (in the courtyard) inside one big story told by the woodcutter to the commoner (near the city gate). The testimonies of the characters are represented by the flashbacks. The spectator does not see the judge. As for the setting, the action takes place in the twelfth century in three places – the Rashomon gate, the courtyard and the wood, among which only the wood was the actual location (the gate and the courtyard were constructed).
The spectator watches the film on the normal widescreen, that is to say side masking is pulled in for 1.85:1 aspect ratio. The director obviously uses normal lens – the focal length is standard (e.g., 50 mm), the depth of field is moderate (main subject and a little more in sharp focus), and the perspective is normal (things look like they do with the human eye).
The movie contains a lot of long takes (shots lasting a full minute or longer on the screen). These shots are usually the battle scenes with the bandit. The director’s objective camera permits to record the action as it happens, and the spectator becomes a neutral observer. Lots of close-ups of the main characters are accompanied by the use of the shallow focus (only the face of the hero is in the sharp focus). The movie in general is shot in the deep focus.
As for the editing, “Rashomon” is said to be shot with several cameras at a time for one scene. This technique was not widespread in the 50’s, so the editor did a huge work. The framing of the movie is represented by the medium shot distance of the camera (mixed with close-ups), normal angle and level to horizon. The curious technical skill was used by Kurosawa in the scenes in the courtyard – the judge is not framed, and the spectator can’t even hear him. It seems like the judge stands somewhere behind the spectator’s back so that the witness addresses and looks not directly into the camera but somewhere further and deeper. This technique may have been used to concentrate on the witnesses and their stories.
The movie is shot in black-and-white which made the director use a lot of interesting techniques to achieve the needed effect. For example, in the scene near the Rashomon gate, Kurosawa couldn’t manage to make the rain visible not only in the foreground, but also in the deep where it died away with the gray decorations. What he invented was dashing some ink into the water of the rain-machines. Thus, the rain became contrasting. The attentive spectator may even notice the ink on the face of the woodcutter in the final scene.
The attentive spectator might have noticed the way the director created the effect of the wind in a scene where the bandit suddenly wakes up in the wood. Though the bandit’s hair is not moving, we can guess that there is wind by the shade of the moving leaves on his face. This incredible play of light and shades was reasoned by the low budget of Kurosawa who had no other choice but spread himself by all the methods to achieve what he wanted.
The significant role in the cinematography of the movie is played by the lighting. Light and shade are the most powerful instruments used by the director. Having a desire to use the natural light which was however weak, Kurosawa decided to take the mirror, reflect the natural light and direct it to the object shot. The film is said to be the first where the camera was directed straight to the sun showing it in the movement through the leaves. The sun in the movie has a symbolic meaning – all the important events happen accompanied by the picture of the sun (the wife giving in to the bandit, the woodcutter taking the baby home).
The movie’s conclusion is that even the most saint person is an egoist, liar and sinner. The woodcutter, who tries to stop the commoner in his theft of the child’s amulet, is caught himself with his hand in the cookie jar. It was he who stole the pearled knife of the wife; it was he who lied in the courtyard. He is accused not only of the common human nature but also of hypocrisy. The commoner at least did not hide his egoistic nature.
When the woodcutter leaves, the rain which was permanent throughout the storytelling finally stops, and the sky seems lighter. This technique was used in order to show that though sinful, the person capable of generosity deserves the act of grace.
Kurosawa successfully gathered a talented cast. To get closer, he proposed that all the actors and the staff lived together. It is very curious that Kurosawa asked Toshiro Mifune to borrow the lion’s body mobility. The actor succeeded, and used this technique several times more in other movies. The incredible playing of Machiko Kyō was marked by Mainichi Film Concours (1951).
The soundtrack of the movie by Fumio Hayasaka, the famous Japanese composer, contributes to the film’s style and atmosphere. Though Akira Kurosawa was a great fan of the silent cinema, and he tried to make the movie in its best traditions, still the audience can’t imagine the movie without the characters’ wonderful monologues and tense music.
Though popular in the West, “Rashomon” didn’t get positive reviews by the Japanese critics. This fact only proves that the film and the idea are universal and actual for the world at large.
Works Cited
PRINCE, STEPHEN. “The Rashomon Effect”. Literary Reference Center. Web. 13 Dec. 2014.
PRINCE, STEPHEN. “The Warrior’s Camera. The cinema of Akira Kurosawa”. Princeton University Press (1991).
SESONSKE, ALEXANDER “Rashomon”. Literary Reference Center. Web. 13 Dec. 2014.
YOSHIMOTO, MITSUSHIRO. “Film Studies and Japanese Cinema” (6 Sep. 1998). Duke University Press (2000).
