Rashomon

The idea of a movie based on an event being told from the view points of different characters involved always fascinated me, so it was awesome to finally watch the movie which pioneered the concept, "Rashomon" directed by Akira Kurusowa. The movie was made in 1950 and is considered one of the classics, a multitude of people have written their opinion about the movie since then, and here are my personal reflections about it. The central event in the movie is a young couple traveling through a forest spotted by a womanizing bandit. The bandit takes a fancy for the beautiful wife and the series of events so unfolds that he rapes the wife and the husband ends up loosing his life. Each of the participants in this event, that is, the bandit, the young wife, ghost of the dead husband and a woodcutter who discreetly witnessed the whole drama narrates the chain of events. The interesting part being how the different narrations are slightly different from each other, each one trying to project the narrator in favorable light, beautifully highlighting one of the basic weaknesses of human nature. Also, we get subtle glimpses of social aspects of life in contemporary Japan, like the male dominance in society, evident from the scenes where both the husband & the bandit treat wife as a commodity. Cinematography, sound effects, direction everything is superb, all in all a very solid story handled perfectly by a legendary director.