Ran (1985)

Ran (1985)

starring Tatsuya Nakadai

directed by Akira Kurosawa

160 minutes

in Japanese with English subtitles

Lord Hidetora Ichimongi (Tatsuya Nakadi), now that he has turned 70, decides to turn his kingdom over to Taro, his eldest son. Taro and Jiro, Hidetora's middle son. agree with their father but Saburo, the youngest son, openly voices his disapproval. Hidetora banishes Saburo and Tango, another of his followers who voices his disapproval of Hidetora's decision.

Saburo winds up forming an alliance with Lord Fukimaji, another of Hidetora's vassals who was impressed with the way that Saburo stood up to his father.

Taro, egged on by his wife Kaede whose family suffered greatly under the rule of Hidetora, kicks his father out of his castle. Hidetora goes to stay with Jiro only to discover that Jiro won't have him. Taro sends one his generals to take over the castle where Saburo lived. Saburo's men willingly give it up and head out looking for him.

Warfare breaks out between Taro and Jiro. Taro is killed. Jiro forms an alliance with Kaede, Taro's widow. Kaede isn't satisfied with with being his concubine or with letting Sue, Jiro's wife, live. She demands Sue's head be brought to her. Jiro sends Kurogane, one of his generals, to behead his wife and bring back her head. Kurogane does not approve of the way that Jiro is bending to Kaede's demands and desires. He brings back the head of a statue instead.

Saburo returns with his army looking for his father but knowing that he will have to contend with his surviving brother, Jiro. Lord Fujimaki and Ayabe follow Saburo's army at a distance. Jiro offers to let Saburo search for his father unimpeded but then changes his mind after Saburo has accepted Jiro's offer. Jiro's forces advance thinking they have the upper hand but they have misjudged. They are badly beaten. Jiro and his remaining troops flee back to the castle.

Saburo finds his father but their reunion is a brief one as s sharpshooter kills Saburo. Hidetora dies from grief soon after that. Kurogane decides that he has had enough. He kills Kaede as the forces of Ayabe bear down on the castle. He then pledges to stand by Jiro even though they are both very likely to die defending the castle.

Thoughts

The title of the movie is the Japanese word for chaos or tumult, according to Wikipedia.

I have seen several films that Tatsuya Nakadai has been in, the most recent of which was High and Low (1963). Most of the other actors have not been in anything that I have seen.

This the fifth film directed by Akira Kurosawa that I have seen in the past three years. There are four others that I saw years ago, before I started this blog. There are others that I would like to see. Kurosawa was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Director for Ran, his only nomination for an Academy Award. He did not win that award but a few years later, in 1990, he received an honorary Academy Award.

I saw this movie in the theater but due to circumstances beyond my control I missed the first 45 minutes. I spent the rest of the movie trying to catch up to what was going on. I knew the story was similar to that of King Lear, with which I am somewhat familiar. By the end I felt like I had a basic grasp of what I saw but I still felt like that there were things that I missed.

I decided I had to watch the beginning of the movie. I turned it on when I got home. I wound up watching the whole movie at home. It was incredible how much I fumbled my way through during my first viewing. Watching it a second time really added to the experience of the film. I have to think that even if I had seen the first 45 minutes of it in the theater that I would still have picked up some things (that I missed on the first go round) by watching it a second time.

My description doesn't capture everything that happened in this movie. There is a subplot involving a Tsurumaru, Sue's brother, who was blinded by Hidetora a decade or more before when Tsurumaru was very young. The last shot of the movie is of Tsurumaru waiting for his sister who will never return because she has been beheaded.

There is a whole lot going on in this movie. There are many messages threaded through it. It is a tragedy but I think one should take into account who Hidetora was before the beginning of the movie. He was a ruthless leader. Evidence of this shows up on more than one occasion and Hidetora's actions, before the beginning of the movie, drive some of the forces that lead to the downfall of the Ichimongi family. 

This is a very impressive movie it is almost impossible to watch without being moved by the level of violence in it. It is stunningly beautiful movie in visual terms. The music is also quite effective in driving the story. I can't think of anything that I would consider to be a flaw in this film.