Rashomon

Rashomon not only introduced the world to Japanese cinema but it won multiple awards back in 1951 and 1952. The story of rape and murder in the outskirts of 11th century Kyoto is told from four different perspectives – with each perspective contradicting the previous one.

The film is based on the stories ‘In A Grove’ and ‘Rashomon’ by Ryunosuke Akutagawa, the latter of the two stories not only provided the film’s title but the setting of the opening scene.
Beneath the enormous Rashomon city gate two men seek shelter from the heavy rain. They are the woodcutter Kikori (Takashi Shimura) and the priest Tabi Hoshi (Minoru Chiaki). When a third man, a commoner (Kichijiro Ueda) joins them, the woodcutter reveals a terrible tale that he happened to witness – his discovery of a murdered Samurai (Masayuki Mori) in the nearby forest.
Through flashbacks we see the woodcutter walking along the forest collecting wood when he stumbles across the body of the murdered man, and also some items of clothing (mainly a hat and a veil) which obviously belong to a woman. After the gruesome discovery, a panic-stricken Kikori runs off to notify the authorties.
The priest Tabi adds that he recollects a Samurai and his wife travelling the same route three days prior to where the murder happened. Tabi was also walking in the forest at the time.

In the next sequence, we see both Kikori and Tabi, who where summoned by the authorities, giving evidence. Also in court is the captured bandit Tajomaru (the great Toshiro Mifune) who admits to the rape and the killing. Flashback again, and we see the story unravel from Tajomaru’s point of view. Initially he had planned to only rape the woman (after having seen the pair travel on horseback) and spare the life of her Samurai husband. At first the woman defended herself with a dagger, but after the rape she begged him to ‘release her from her shame’ and duel with her husband – whoever is the winner, she will go with him. Tajomaru won the duel but the woman made off on her own instead.

Enter the beautiful wife (Machiko Kyo) who was found in a highly distressed state and is now also in court, telling her version of what happened. After the rape by Tajomaru she begged her husband for forgiveness, but he displayed only disgust for her. Begging to kill her he continued with his loathing for her, upon which she fainted and fell onto him with the dagger still in her hand.

The court then hears the murdered Samurai’s version, told through a ghostly spirit (Fumiko Homma) from the dark Netherworld. After the rape, the bandit Tajomaru asked the woman to travel with him, upon which she replied that she would - as long as the bandit was willing to kill her husband… for she cannot belong to two men! So shocked was the bandit by her response that he asked the Samurai whether he should kill the wife or let her go. While awaiting the answer, the woman ran away with the bandit unable to recapture her. He then set the Samurai free, who killed himself with his wife’s dagger… and someone else must have removed the dagger from the corpse…

Back at the Rashomon gate, the woodcutter mentions that the aforementioned statements where all lies, including his own. In the new version, he admits that he witnessed the actual rape and murder but was too afraid to speak out. In another flashback, we now see the bandit asking the woman to marry him but instead she frees her husband who is bound to a tree. Hesitating to confront the bandit and demand a duel, the woman then scorns her husband for being a weak man, and reminds him that, “A woman loves a real man only!” Provoking the two men to fight each other, we witness one of the most incompetent duels… from which the bandit emerged winner not due to his skills but due to sheer luck.
The film concludes with the realisation that all people are deceptive, egotistical liars and that no one can be trusted. It is only when the woodcutter saves an abandoned baby from a robber and adopts it into his own family that the priest’s faith in humanity is restored.

The ‘multiple-point-of-view’ concept of Rashomon proved highly influential, and was freely adapted in the 1964 Western The Outrage by Martin Ritt. Rashomon has furthermore influenced movies such as Kubrick’s The Killing (1956), and Mario Bava’s Four Times That Night (1973).

The performances in Rashomon are engaging and compelling, from the demure restraint of Machiko Kyo’s ‘Woman’ (who suddenly turns fierce and provocative) to the spiteful outbursts of Mifune’s ‘Bandit’. The scene in which the woman threatens Tajamaru with her dagger before giving in to forced seduction is truly inspired - it is perhaps no coincidence that during this sequence we listen to what seems like a Japanese version of Ravel’s famous orchestral piece ‘Bolero’ – here courtesy of Fumio Hayasaka.
Further praise has to go to cinematographer Kazuo Miyagawa for capturing both landscape and the elements in a most atmospheric way.

Brilliantly restored, the DVD and Blu-ray offers the following SPECIAL FEATUREs:

• Audio commentary
• Rashomon at 65 docu
• Director John Boorman on ‘Rashomon’
• Trailer
• Illustrated booklet