Greatness comes through the narrative by adding a great perspective. Proved by Kurosawa
To date, I resisted touching Kurosawa for me though, I was meek to comprehend his greatness and perhaps even understand it. After watching Rashomon, I must say I am in a "complex" of a certain dilemma acquired by watching this film.
A simple tale can be made complex by adding different versions of narratives to the same story, they are contradictory and inconclusive, yet they add the dimension of thought-provoking and making the viewer think actually what could have happened in the story. Perhaps, nothing of what was said and maybe all too, but the most important thing it ignites a debate within a mind. Thus, there lies the success of the film and hence it derives all the attention of the viewer. This is how the film becomes great.
Even so many years later, if this film has the charm to attract and enthrall audiences. I attribute that mostly to the narration by Kurosawa above everything else. Yes, the cinematography is brilliant, the editing is precise and makes the film breezy. The production values are good considering this is made in 1950's Japan. But above all, the treatment and the screenplay take the film to greater heights.
It's the story of a woman cheating her husband and making love with another man who is a bandit. But the husband, the woman, the bandit present three versions of the story and that makes it complex. Even the witnesses give different versions of happenings and it gets intriguing further.
Nature acts as a metaphor, the overcast skies, the rains, and the sunshine at the end add another aspect to the narrative, which I got to know by the end. Thankfully, I observed it to grasp it.
I will further examine, observe, and seek learnings from Akira Kurosawa's films. For this film, a 5/5. It's a masterpiece from one of the finest directors ever.
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