Slug: Nicole Gonzalez, 10/18/2011 (1950), Rashomon, 88 min, Japanese, Director: Akira Kurosawa (1953) Nominated for the American Academy Awards for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black and White: Takashi Matsuyama and H. Motsumoto, (1952) Winner of the American Honorary Award Voted by the Board of Govemors as the most outstanding foreign language film released in the United States during 1951, (1953)Nominated for the BAFTA Film Awards for Best Film from any Source: Japan, Winner of the Blue Robin Award for Best Screenplay: Akira Kurosawa Shinobu Hashimoto, (1953)Nominated for the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures: Akira Kurosawa, (1951) Winner of the Manichi Film Concours for Best Actress Machiko Kyô, (1951) Winner of the NBR Award for Best Director: Akira Kurosawa and Best Foreign Film: Japan, (1951) Winner of the Golden Lion Award: Akira Kurosawa, (1951) Winner of the Italian Critic Award: : Akira Kurosawa.
Rashomon
Kurosawa tells the story of the married couple and the man who kills the husband in an allegory tale; showing more than one side of the story. The film theory that is used is formalism because of the styling of how the wife tells her story and how other tell tge same story in a different way. The camera lets the audience judge exactly how the husband dies by not letting the judge speak (Precious 1). The camera shoots from both the vertical, showing the sun, the forest and the characters by using horizontal movement (1). In the very last scene, the woodcutter, the commoner and the priest find a baby. The baby could symbolize a new beginning or an innocence life from the “horrible story.” The ending shows sentimentality because Kurosawa brings an emotional level to the audience so they could feel sad or nostalgic from original story of the wife, the husband and the bandit (2).
Kurosawa is named “master of medium,” because he had the ability to show Western audience how Eastern films are made (Crow 1). Crow does question whether or not the woodcutter’s testimony was the truth because he might be lying of the crime that was committed (1). Since there was more than one side of the testimony, Crow states that it might fall into the category of nihilism-showing some truth with some lies (1). While this first review gives the movie appraise, the second article does not praise the movie. Barbarow criticizes the essay, "How to Solve a Mystery of Roshomon," by Parker Tyler calls the movie "a masterpiece." Also, the article states that Kurosawa wants the audience to be the fifth witness, which fails because the audience does not know which side to believe (421). He even states that all of the story loses their identity because there is no truth (421). Barbarow questions whether or not the movie is worthy to be called a masterpiece (421). Crow praises Kurosawa for using the baby to draw the audience in an emotional level (1). Also, showing some dramatic emphises on the wife being thron on the leaves. Barbarow criticizes on the first shot where there is a rainstorm which could have been seen in Hamlet. The showing of the baby was not needed (422).
Akira Kurosawa’s “Roshomon” does capture all for sides of the story, but I find the female character quite annoying. From all of the stories, she is over-emphasizing the crying or she seems confused of who side to take: the bandit or her husband. Even during the trial, I didn’t want to believe her story because her expression is so over the top, I wanted to believe she was the reason for the crime. In addition, the movie seemed to be a little degrading on females because as both the husband and the bandit fight over her, they tell her she is nothing without a man, which made me question of why are the two men fighting over her in the first place.
Work Cited:
Barbarow, George. “Rashomon and the Fifth Witness.” The Hudson Review, Vol. 5, No. 3 (Autumn, 1952), pp. 420-422. Web. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3847915
Crow, Jonathan. “review.” Rovi, 2011. Web. http://www.allrovi.com/movies/movie/v40347
“Rashomon.” Precious Bodily Fluids, March 2009. Web. http://andrewsidea.wordpress.com/2009/03/05/rashomon/
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