Akira Kurosawa's 1950 film 'Rashomon' film analysis and review

Rashomon is a 1950 film directed by Akira Kurosawa, written by Kurosawa and Shinobu Hashimoto, and based on the 1922 short story “In a Grove” by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa.

Rashomon is set during a period in Japanese history marked by the collapse of feudalism, social, economic, and political upheavals and widespread looting. The film begins in a partly demolished temple called Rashomon occupied by a priest and a villager named Kikori. They are joined by another villager seeking shelter from the rain. The priest and Kikori are depressed about the recent murder of a samurai. Men are killed everyday but the murder of this samurai is extraordinary. The villager rips some planks of wood off the temple, uses these planks to start a fire, and Kikori and the priest take turns describing the samurai’s murder. Only 4 people witness the crime--a bandit, the samurai, the samurai’s wife, and Kikori. 4 witnesses, 4 versions of the samurai’s death. Who killed him? And what happened to the dagger? As it turns out, the key to solving the crime comes from the most unlikely witness when they discover a baby abandoned by its parents inside the temple. Rashomon stars Toshiro Mifune, Takashi Shimura, Machiko Kyo, and Minoru Chiaki. The cinematography is by Kazuo Miyagawa, the music is by Fumio Hiyasaka, and the film is edited by Akira Kurosawa. Among Kurosawa’s shortest films at only 88 minutes, Rashomon is among the director’s most important works, a film that pioneered the use of multiple perspectives. In this presentation, I will examine the film’s themes and I will offer my personal opinion of the film at the end.

Themes

Truth is in the eye of the teller

Remember the good ol’ days when families ate dinner together? When there were family values? When kids respected their parents? When boys wore belts? When you could leave your doors unlocked? When men earned enough to support their families? When it was safe to walk the streets at night? When gas was 25 cents a gallon? When everybody got along?

Or do you remember the bad ol’ days? When skin color determined where you sat on the bus? When women couldn’t vote? When banks redlined? When the U.S. government exposed Americans to atomic explosions? Or Jim Crow? Or lynchings? Or back-alley abortions? The bottom line is that when it comes to life, we “remember the good stuff and forget the bad stuff.”

In Rashomon, 4 eyewitnesses give conflicting accounts of the death of a samurai. Tajomaru the bandit admits to killing the samurai but doing so honorably by first, cutting the samurai free and then killing him in a duel. Tajomaru also admits to taking the horse of the samurai’s wife and selling the samurai’s sword; the samurai’s wife’s account of her husband’s murder is basically the same as the bandit’s account, but in her version she begged her husband to kill her before passing out. By the time she came to, her husband had already taken his life with her dagger; the samurai’s own account of his death is a bit different. After being raped, his wife begged Tajomaru to kill him--her husband--to hide her shame. She even begged Tajomaru to take her with him. Instead, according to the samurai’s story, Tajoramu untied him and left him with his wife. The samurai, then, killed himself with his wife’s dagger. The samurai claims that someone had later pulled the dagger out of his chest. A villager named Kikori tells the police that he only saw the dead samurai. But later his story changes and he claims he saw Tajomaru begging the woman to be his wife. The woman then cut the ropes off of her husband and told him and Tajomaru to fight to decide whom she would belong to. For this, the samurai called her a whore. Both men spurned her but she was cunning and manipulated their egos to make them fight each other. Tajomaru defeated the samurai who died begging for his life, according to Kikori’s story.

Why lie?

There’s no question about the dead samurai; the question now becomes motive. There seems to be no reason to doubt any of the witnesses as their stories fit not only who they are but what they are.

For instance, Take Tajomaru, a savage and a bandit who admits to tying up the samurai, raping his wife in front of him, and killing the samurai honorably in a duel. Tajomaru also admits to being a thief, stealing the woman’s horse, the samurai’s bow and arrows, and trading the samurai’s sword for liquor. Tajomaru is also famous for womanizing, raping a woman and her maid.

Now, let’s look at the samurai’s wife, the weaker sex and obvious victim. She cries during the interview and this makes her version of the story believable to the men listening to her. She claims that she ran to her husband’s side after Tajomaru raped her. She freed her husband and begged him to kill her with her own dagger. What could a poor helpless woman do to prevent her husband from killing himself?

Then, there’s the samurai who held his wife on a pedestal. The samurai admits that he tried to console his wife and that she never looked more beautiful than she did after Tajomaru raped her. But she betrayed him by asking Tajomaru to kill him to hide her shame. He was even ready to pardon Tajomaru who asked him whether to kill the woman. After Tajomaru left, the samurai says that he killed himself with his wife’s dagger.

Then there’s the wood-cutter Kikori who happened to be in the forest. He admits to lying to the police about not seeing the actual crime and only finding evidence of the crime--the samurai’s cap, the woman’s hat, and the rope. Kikori’s 2nd story is similar to Tajomaru’s story except for the fact that Kikori saw the woman manipulate Tajomaru and the samurai to fight each other; and he also saw the samurai begging for his life.

Why not lie?

Proverbs 18:17,
“The one who states his case first seems right, until the other comes and examines him.”

Matthew 6:21,
“For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

As we see so far, the testimony of each witness fits their character. Tajomaru’s testimony fits his reputation as a womanizer; the woman’s testimony fits her position as the weaker sex as Tajomaru tells the samurai--“she is a woman and weak by nature”; the samurai’s testimony seems truthful because he is dead and--according to the priest--dead men don’t have a reason to lie; Kikori’s testimony makes him look like an innocent bystander.

Despite this, there remains inconsistencies in each witnesses’ testimony. But what is consistent is that each witness is trying to protect something of value.

Tajomaru’s account of the murder adds to his ruthless reputation but also makes him look honorable in that he unties the samurai and gives him the opportunity to avenge his wife. The woman’s account of the murder makes her look weak and also appeals to the protective instincts of men who are manipulated by a woman’s tears and view women--as Tajomaru says--as weak. The samurai’s account of the murder paints him as compassionate towards his wife after Tajomaru rapes her. The samurai also portrays himself as a victim by his wife asking Tajomaru to kill him to hide her shame. Kikori’s account of the murder paints him as a bystander who just happens to stumble upon the scene looking for wood.

The problems with the Kikori’s story

He witnesses 2 crimes--the woman’s rape and the samurai’s murder. Why didn’t he intervene and why did he withhold this information from the police?

Another problem with Kikori’s story is that it doesn’t take into account the fact that Tajomaru--in addition to being a womanizer--is also a thief. Remember Tajomaru had taken everything of value from the scene of the crime--that being the woman’s virtue, the samurai’s pride, her horse, the samurai’s bow and arrows, and the samurai’s sword which he said he bartered for alcohol. One would think that Tajoramu would have taken the woman’s dagger also.

The problem with the woman’s story

She says that she asked her husband to kill her and when he didn’t kill her she tried to drown herself in a pond. Now, one would think that if she wanted to kill herself she could have done so with the dagger she says that she cut her husband’s rope with.

The white horse

The fact that the woman could have killed herself with the dagger compels us to consider the possibility that she may not be the virtuous wife she seems to be. This possibility is expressed indirectly through symbolism. For instance, let’s consider the white horse the police claims that Tajomaru stole from the woman that the samurai had placed her on to exalt her above Earth and man. The policeman found Tajomaru laid out on the beach and assumed that the woman’s horse had thrown him off. But Tajomaru tells the police that the horse did not throw him off, a metaphor suggesting that the woman gave herself to him willingly and that he did not take her by force.

Temptation

Matthew 26:41,
“Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

Taking into account the possibility that the woman may be lying to protect her virtue, we can explore more symbolism in the film.

Earth

Although she is portrayed on a white horse as the model of virtue and above Earth--or the power of temptation--she dismounts her white horse to get a drink of water which represents her fall from the divine to Earth and the desires of the flesh. This symbolic scene foreshadows her sexual encounter with Tajomaru.

Nature

Tajomaru is not ashamed of his nakedness and leaves most of his body uncovered in contrast to the samurai and the woman whose bodies are almost completely hidden. Tajomaru ties up the samurai to let him see the woman giving in to him. Tajomaru becomes disappointed when she pits him against her husband to decide her fate, their symbolic duel representing the duality of man’s divine ideal against his carnal nature with carnal nature winning!

Selfishness

Listener: “Man just wants to forget the bad stuff and believe in the made up good stuff because it is easier that way.”

A marriage ends in a bitter divorce. Whose fault is it? Depends on who you ask. The ex-husband will blame the wife and vise versa. Both are victims. But nothing in life is black and white and neither are people.

Tajomaru

Tajomaru’s version of the story omits the fact that the woman rejected his offer to run away with him. He also (according to Kikori’s version of the story) killed the samurai as the samurai begged for his life--not an honorable way to win a duel.

Samurai

The samurai’s version of the story omits the fact that he gave his wife the cold shoulder after Tajomaru raped her. The samurai’s story also leaves out him begging Tajomaru not to kill him.

The samurai’s wife

Her version of the story omits the fact that she enjoyed making love to Tajomaru. Her story also leaves out her manipulating Tajomaru and the samurai to fight over her which they probably did or probably did not do. And If they didn’t fight over her, she probably got pissed off and killed her husband while he was tied up to keep him from spreading her shame.

Kikori

His version of the story omits the part that would make him look like a thief. Symbolically, the baby they find abandoned in the corner of the temple provides the clue as to Kikori’s involvement. The listener taking the kimono off the baby and Kikori taking the dagger from the samurai’s dead body are one and the same thing and here’s how they both relate: the samurai and the baby are abandoned by lovers who--as the listener says--throws them away after having their fun. Both the kimono and dagger are left to comfort the baby and the samurai and when the listener says to Kikori--who calls him evil--“If you are not selfish, you will die,” the listener sums up not only his justification for taking the kimono from the baby but also Kikori’s own justification for stealing the dagger off the samurai which he did to feed his 6 kids! Selfishness is also the underlying motive of the samurai, the samurai’s wife, and even the priest whose desire to find goodness in man--such as him saying that “dead men don’t lie and him refusing to believe that man can be so sinful--prejudices him against the possibility that all of the witnesses are lying. The priest also objects to hearing Kikori’s account of what happened to the samurai.

So, what really happened to the samurai? Who knows. But 1 conclusion we can definitely draw from Rashomon and life is that truth is subjective and in order to get it you have to hear all sides as history favors the view of he or she who writes it.

Wrap

Director Akira Kurosawa wanted to make a simple beautiful film and in Rashomon the director has done just that, a film calling to mind Stanley Kubrick’s 1956 film The Killing and Christopher Nolan’s 2000 film Memento, films that also called truth and its subjective nature into question.

For Rashomon, Akira Kurosawa received the National Board of Review’s award for Best Director. And at the 24th Academy Awards in 1952, Rashomon won for The Most Outstanding Foreign Language Film. The film is also Toshiro Mifune’s and actor Takashi Shimura's 1st pairing, both of whom reunite 4 years later in Kurosawa's legendary 1954 epic Seven Samurai.

Like another great film by another great director I admire, Alfred Hitchcock’s 1944 film Lifeboat, Rashomon is an oxymoron: at only 88 minutes, it is both light and heavy and gets better and better each time you see it.

Seven Samurai and lessons from Sun Tzu's 'Art of War' review and analysis

Seven Samurai is a 1954 Japanese Samurai epic co-written by Akira Kurosawa, Shinobu Hashimoto, Hideo Oguni, and directed by Akira Kurosawa. 

The film takes place during the Sengoku Period of Japanese history and follows 7 masterless samurai--or ronin as they are called--who are hired for the price of 3 meals a day by farmers to defend their harvest from bandits. The film stars Toshiro Mifune, Takashi Shimura, Yoshio Inaba, Daisuke Katō, Seiji Miyaguchi, Minoru Chiaki, and Isao Kimura. At 207 minutes, Seven Samurai is Akira Kurosawa’s longest and arguably best film, and serves as the template for team films such as The Magnificent Seven and Marvel’s Avengers. The film was nominated for 2 Academy Awards in 1957 for Best Art Design and Best Costume Design. Major critics such as Roger Ebert and polls such as Sight and Sound rank Seven Samurai among the greatest films ever made. In this presentation, I will cover the film’s plot, its themes, and offer my personal thoughts at the end.

Plot

Seven Samurai is set in Japan in the early 16th century, a period of uncertainty plagued by debt, high taxes, civil wars, and now bandits, a group of which on a high hill look down upon a farming village lying prone, plump, juicy, and almost ripe. But not yet, not until the harvest, only then will they return to steal the hard-earned fruit of the farmers' labor.

Down in the village, the farmers are fearful and full of despair. There are disagreements about whether they should avoid bloodshed and surrender their crops to the bandits or whether they should fashion their bamboo poles into spears and fight the bandits. The farmers go to see the village elder who tells them to fight. Of all the villages looted and burned, those that survived had 1 thing in common: samurai. But the farmers have no money to pay for proud samurai to which the elder tells them to hire hungry samurai who will work for 3 meals a day. Even a bear, the elder tells them, will come out of the forest when he gets hungry.

Four farmers, Rikichi, Yohei, Manzo, and Mosuke go to the nearest town to find four samurai. But after 10 days and no samurai, things seem hopeless until the 4 farmers come upon a crowd surrounding a priest and a samurai. The samurai takes out a knife and cuts off his topknot. The samurai then hands a sharp razor to the priest who uses the razor to shave the hair off the samurai’s head. Kimbei, the samurai, then puts on the tattered robe of a priest. He then asks the villagers for 2 rice balls to go inside of a barn to rescue a child from a thief. Farmers surround the barn and all of them have weapons; but they are afraid. The front door is open and Kimbei offers the thief a rice ball in exchange for the child. The thief agrees. Kimbei tosses a rice ball to the thief and rushes in behind it. Moments later, the thief stumbles out of the barn, falls to the ground, and dies. Kimbei comes out of the barn with the boy and drops his bloodstained sword. Kimbei walks away; no one thanks him. A young samurai named Katsushiro bows to Kimbei asking to be his disciple. The farmers hire their 1st Samurai.

Kimbei recruits 6 more samurai to work for 3 meals a day and they return to the village. Kimbei looks around in horror; the village is wide open and easily accessible from every direction. He and his fellow samurai get to work and over time the village and farmers become stronger, fortified walls are erected, bridges are torn down, and crops are gathered. The harvest passes and soon the fear of the bandits is replaced by dancing, forgetfulness, and ingratitude. With the reaping all done, the farmers think that the bandits have gone away. But Kimbei knows that peace is the most dangerous season of all.

Themes

Honor is at the center of Seven Samurai. At the beginning of this film, a thief holds a child hostage inside of a barn surrounded by a crowd of armed villagers who feel helpless. A samurai named Kimbei cuts off his topknot, the very feature that identifies him as a samurai; he then hands a sharp razor to a priest to shave off his hair. Kimbei then dresses himself in the robe of a monk and asks for 2 rice balls to go into the barn and save the child.

Proverbs 18:12,
“Humility comes before honor.”

Kimbei tosses the rice balls to the thief and rushes into the barn by himself. Moments later, the thief stumbles out of the barn and falls to the ground, dead. How was Kimbei able to do what the crowd of people outside the shack couldn’t do? 1) he cut off his topknot to hide the fact that he was a samurai; 2) he assumes the non-threatening disguise of a priest to gain the thief’s trust; 3) he has a priest to cut off all of his hair with a razor, a gesture incorporating 2 virtues: sacrifice and humility; 4) he then tosses the rice balls the villagers gave him to the thief when the villagers thought that the rice balls were for him; and finally, Kimbei rushes into the barn, subdues the thief, and saves the child--all by himself--a feat of courage that so impresses a young samurai named Katsushiro to ask to be his disciple.

Machiavelli’s ‘The Prince.’ What A Prince Must Do To Be Esteemed:
“Nothing wins so much esteem for a prince as embarking on great enterprises and giving rare proofs of his ability.”

Honor seeks no reward but is, within itself, a reward. A farmer named Rikichi volunteers to go into the bandits' camp and steal their guns. Rikichi is eager to win honor to himself but he is also inexperienced and stands a good chance at failing. Kyuzo--a samurai of proven abilities--snatches this opportunity away from Rikichi and goes solo into the bandit’s camp, steals one of their guns, and gets himself 2 kills in the process. Kyuzo’s courage and skill--as Kimbei’s courage and skill in rescuing the child from the thief--wins praise and admiration, especially from Katsushiro.

Kikuchyo is jealous of Katsushiro’s admiration for Kyuzo and evens the score by sneaking into the bandits’ camp and stealing himself a gun, too. But instead of winning merit, Kimbei reprimands him. Kikuchyo’s deed could have costed them a valuable samurai and the deed was also self serving and not for the greater good of the whole.

Proverbs 25:27,
“For men to search their own glory is not glory.”

Also,

Art of War Chapter 8. Variation in Tactics:
“In war, the general receives his commands from the sovereign, collects his army and concentrates his forces.”

The sovereign is the head. Tactical decisions should be rational. Also, Kikuchyo’s motivation for going into the bandit’s camp is to take glory from another samurai, as he did by dancing over the dead thief that Kimbei killed; or like the villagers stealing the armor off of slain samurai; or like old man Yohei trying on samurai armor that is too big for him. But this act on Kikuchyo’s part only attests to the high value of honor and the price the samurai are willing to pay for it.

The samurai help the farmers to discover honor within themselves. Kikuchyo teaches the farmers how to fight with swords and form battle units; Heihachi provokes Rikichi to work harder in the fields by questioning his manhood. At the beginning of the film, the villagers felt afraid and helpless even though they outnumbered their enemies--the thief that held the child at knife point and the bandits. Back then, every option was on the table, from simply walking away from their harvest and letting the bandits take it to even committing suicide. In fact, the farmers had plenty of rice, salt, beans, and saki stored away but they were poor because they had no honor, they planted and sowed but had no courage to defend what was theirs.

Sowing and reaping

Matt. 13:24--29,
“Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: 25But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. 26But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. 27So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares? 28He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? 29But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. 30Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.”

The weeds are not just the bandits that appear at harvest but other thieves such as laziness, disunity, and forgetfulness. There are weeds in the human spirit that come up in seasons of trouble as well as seasons of peace and prosperity.

Laziness

To prepare for the bandits’ return, Kimbei and Gorobei inspect the village to secure all the weak points. The weakest point of the perimeter is the eastern border. Here, they find Kikuchyo stretched out, his head and feet propped up, snoring away, with his sword sticking out of a pile of logs. Kimbei takes Kikuchyo’s sword and, from a hiding spot, tosses a stone in the water to wake Kikuchyo up. Kimbei comes out of hiding and gives Kikuchyo his sword and a warning: if he had been the enemy, Kikuchyo would have been dead.

Matthew 24:43,
“But know this, that if the householder had known in what watch the thief comes, he would have watched, and not have suffered his house to be broken into.”
Also,
Art of War Chapter 8. Variation of Tactics:
“The art of war teaches us to rely not on the likelihood of the enemy's not coming, but on our own readiness to receive him; not on the chance of his not attacking, but rather on the fact that we have made our position unassailable.”

Disunity

Kimbei and Gorobei walk the perimeter of the village and discover another weakness; three isolated homes outside the village.

Art Of War Chapter 8. Variation in Tactics:
“In country where high roads intersect, join hands with your allies. Do not linger in dangerously isolated positions.”

Art Of War Chapter 1. Laying Plans:
“If his forces are united, separate them.”

Once the bandits come for the harvest, whoever lived in those three homes would be isolated. Kimbei lays down the rules: all work shall be done in formation; harvesting will be done together; no one shall work by himself; everyone will camp together, unit by unit; nobody shall do anything by himself. Kimbei even reprimands a fellow samurai--Kikuchyo--for leaving the village to go into the enemy camp by himself. Despite the valuable intel he acquired, Kikuchyo’s motive for going into the bandits’ camp was selfish. And as for the homes outside the village on the other side of the marshes, Kimbei orders them to be evacuated. Twenty homes in the village can’t be risked for the 3 homes outside the village.

Matthew 5:30,
"If your right hand makes you stumble, cut it off and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to go into hell.”

Kikuchyo, as pointed out earlier, violates Kimbei’s order by going into the bandit’s camp by himself. But even so, Kikuchyo acquires valuable intelligence on the enemy’s condition. Attrition through a series of unsuccessful attacks has taken its toll on the bandits who are not only worn out from the clashes with the samurais and villagers but also hungry. The bandits’ predicament comes from violating 2 rules from the Art of War:

Chapter 6. Weak Points and Strong:
“You can be sure of succeeding in your attacks if you only attack places which are undefended.”

Also,

Chapter 3. Attack By Stratagem:
“The rule is not to besiege walled cities if it can possibly be avoided. The preparation of mantlets, movable shelters, and various implements of war, will take up three whole months; and the piling up of mounds over against the walls will take three months more.
The general, unable to control his irritation, will launch his men to the assault like swarming ants, with the result that one-third of his men are slain, while the town still remains untaken. Such are the disastrous effects of a siege.”

Forgetfulness

Sun Tzu realized that moods are like seasons and change over time. At the very beginning of the film, the fear of the bandits’ attack intensifies leading up to harvest; however, after the villagers gather their harvest with no trouble, the fear dissipates. Gorobei and Kimbei take in a scene of villagers standing around laughing and acting a fool without a care in the world, more at ease and confident in the peace following the bandits’ threat to take their harvest. An experienced samurai, Gorobei observes the villagers’ general attitude with disapproval. He and Kimbei knows that peaceful conditions are the most dangerous times of all.

Art of War Chapter 7. Maneuvering:
“Now a soldier's spirit is keenest in the morning; by noonday it has begun to flag; and in the evening, his mind is bent only on returning to camp.”

Art of War Chapter 1. Laying Plans:
“When we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away.”

The delay in the bandits’ attack makes the villagers confident, forgetful, and ungrateful.

Finding samurai to fight and put their lives on the line for only 3 meals a day is no easy task for the villagers. An offended samurai draws his sword on Rikichi for even asking. Finding not one but seven samurai to fight and put their lives on the line for 3 meals a day is miraculous and at first the villagers can’t believe their luck. Over the course of time, the villagers become confident, forgetful, and ungrateful: they tolerate the samurai as long as they are threatened by the bandits. But as soon as the bandits are all dead, the villagers forget all about the samurais that helped them. Even Shino gives Katsushiro the cold shoulder after the bandits are dead and the crops are harvested.

Machiavelli. The Prince. Concerning Cruelty: Whether It Is Better To Be Loved Than to Be Feared, Or The Reverse:
“For this can be said about the generality of men: that they are ungrateful, fickle, dissembling, anxious to flee danger, and covetous of gain. So long as you promote their advantage, they are all yours.”

Wrap

Akira Kurosawa had originally planned to make the film about 6 samurai but decided to add a 7th samurai, Kikuchyo, whose eccentric personality offsets the personalities of the other 6 samurai who are all serious. Toshiro Mifune--who plays Kikuchyo--was to play Kyuzo before Kurosawa made him the 7th samurai. Seeing Mifune as a wild-man in this role brings to mind his role as Musashi Miyamoto in Hiroshi Inagaki’s Samurai trilogy. Mifune’s role in Seven Samurai also brings to mind his role as the bandit, Tajōmaru, in Kurosawa’s 1950 film Rashomon. Of all Kurosawa’s films, Seven Samurai is among my favorites for a number of reasons starting with the cinematography by longtime collaborator Asakazu Naka. Each scene is full of so much information and wisdom; nothing the camera sees is wasted. Poetry is in every shot. The music by Fumio Hayasaka is also great and matches the scenes well.

It doesn’t take long watching Seven Samurai to get the sense that Kurosawa’s film is universal and applies to many aspects of life. The film runs almost 31/2 hours but it feels an hour shorter.

Seven Samurai is an old film but you can see its influence on many of today’s films like Star Wars, The Magnificent Seven, and The Avengers. This masterpiece is why I consider Kurosawa 1 of the best directors ever.

'Dodes'ka-den' review and breakdown of Akira Kurosawa's 1970 film

Dodes'ka-den is a 1970 drama directed by Akira .Kurosawa, written by Kurosawa, Hideo Oguni, Shinobu Hashimoto and based on a book by Shūgorō Yamamoto called Kisetsu no nai machi ("A Town Without Seasons”). 

The film consists of 8 stories that are connected by an imaginary trolley-car driven by a boy named Rokuchan. The film is produced and distributed by Toho Studios with editing by Reiko Kaneko, cinematography by Yasumichi Fukuzawa and Takao Saitô, and music by Tōru Takemitsu. The film stars Yoshitaka Zushi, Kin Sugai, and Toshiyuki Tonomura. Dodes'ka-den is Kurosawa’s 1st color film and won the Belgian Film Critic Society’s Grand Prix Award.

In a shanty-town within a landfill a boy named Rokuchan begins his daily routine by watching a trolley-car leave the station. Rokuchan then joins his mother at home to chant diamoku. Rokuchan’s dream is to be a trolley conductor and the walls in the tiny home are covered with trolley-car drawings. At precisely 7:00am he puts on his imaginary uniform and goes outside to inspect his imaginary trolley-car. Finally, he starts it up and starts down the road chanting Dodes'ka-den. Kids throw rocks at him and call him the trolley-freak as he passes by.

Rokuchan makes 8 stops:

• His 1st stop is the home of an old wise man named Tanba
• His 2nd stop is the home of Shima who swaps wives with his best friend to find peace
• His 3rd stop is the home of Mr. Shima and his bossy wife
• His 4th stop is the home of 5 children who get to choose their father
• His 5th stop is the home of a girl named Katsuko who faces the decision to kill herself or the man she loves after finding out that she is pregnant
• His 6th stop is the home of Hei who closes off his heart after his wife leaves him for another man
• His 7th stop is a car where a homeless man and his son build their imaginary home
• His 8th and final stop is an old man who receives a new lease on his life after drinking poison

Rokuchan’s imaginary trolley-car is real to him. This does not mean, though, that Rokuchan’s dream is without obstacles. Children ridicule him, call him the trolley-freak and throw rocks at him; vandals spray paint insults on his house; Rokuchan’s imaginary trolley-car nearly collides with a man sitting on the tracks painting a picture. Yet, despite all of these obstacles, including his mother’s tears and doubts, Rokuchan’s trolley-car rolls on.

Proverbs 29:18-- “Where there is no vision, the people perish.”

But what would happen to Rokuchan if he gave up on his dream? An old man visits the town elder named Tanba depressed on account of losing both of his sons in a war and his wife 6 months later. The old man tells Tanba that he has nothing to live for and wants to die. Tanba offers the old man some poison and a glass of water. The old man takes the poison and then goes on to say that he is only happy when he is with his sons and his wife in his dreams. Tanba asks the old man if it would be right to kill himself and his wife and 2 sons who continue to live in his dreams. This existential question brings the old man to his senses and he panics after realizing that he had already taken the poison Tanba gave him. Tanba tells him that every poison has a poison that counteracts it. Tanba puts the old man at ease by telling him that he had given him a digestive instead of poison. Depression over the loss of his family made the old man suicidal, a poison Tanba cured by giving the old man the thought that he would be killing something that gave him joy--the dream of his family.

A 15-year old girl named Katsuko lives with her aunt and lazy uncle who rapes her and gets her pregnant. She has a private crush on a delivery boy who she believes will reject her upon finding out that she is pregnant. Her 1st thought is suicide but then she has another thought: what if she killed herself and the delivery boy forgot her? At this thought, Katsuko’s rage turns from herself to him, the delivery boy. He survives her attack and later she apologizes and tells him that the thought of him forgetting her--being erased from his dreams--was simply too much for her to bear. Again, as with the old man, it takes a poison to counteract another poison. Katsuko’s poison is suicide and the thought of the delivery boy forgetting her became the antidote.

Through these examples, we see that Rokuchan gets his life from his dreams. But dreams, like seeds, need nourishment and the proper environment to grow.

Matt. 13:3-8--“A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, but when the sun rose they were scorched. And since they had no root, they withered away Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them.”

Hebrews 11:1--“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for...”

Pictures of trolley-cars cover the walls in Rokuchan’s home. He is at the trolley station everyday. When he stops by Mr. Tanba’s house, the old man asks him about his trolley-car; when people see Rokuchan coming, they move out of his way. Doubt is to a dream what drought is to life and when vandals write trolley-freak on Rokuchan’s house his mother wipes it off. Rokuchan turns a deaf ear to children who call him names ridiculing his imaginary trolley-car.

The same cannot be said for the small boy who lives in the car with his father. Although, he and his father share the same dream of having a nice home, the man sends the boy out in the hostile world alone to beg for food. There are no pictures of their dream home in the car as there are pictures of trolley-cars in Rokuchan’s home. And when the boy dies of starvation and food poisoning it is no surprise considering that his dream lacked the proper nourishment and environment.

But not all death is physical; there is also the spiritual death of a man named Hei whose wife, Ocho, leaves him to be with another man. The dead tree in front of his house is the metaphor for a man who has lost his dream.

John 1:12--“But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name”
2 Corinthians 6:18--“And I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty.”

Rokuchan’s happiness also depends on his reality. Even though no one else can see his trolley-car, he can see it and follows his heart rather than his eyes. This is also the case with Umeko’s 5 children, all of whom have different fathers. Taro--the oldest child--asks his mother’s husband whether or not he is their father. Ryo tells Taro that they are all his children but that if they don’t love him and believe he is their dad, he isn’t. In other words, Ryo gives the 5 children of his wife the power to choose him or not choose him for their father.

Choice, faith, and love makes Rokuchan’s dream real as these makes Ryo the children’s father.

What may look bad may actually be good depending on one’s perspective. At the outset of the film, Mrs. Shima is misjudged by her appearance, demeanor and the women gossiping at the fountain. She gets into an argument with a produce vendor over the price of a cabbage but when the vendor gives in and offers her the cabbage for free she takes it as an insult and insists on paying him for it. When her husband invites 3 of his friends over for dinner, Mrs. Shima makes no effort to hide her resentment. She is rude to her husband’s guests and when she leaves to go to the bath house, Mr. Nomoto sounds off to Mr. Shima about her conduct. Mr. Shima defends his wife by letting Mr. Nomoto know how hard his wife worked to prepare dinner for them.

1 Samuel 16:7--“for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart."

Then there’s the young man mad about his job and throwing a fit. Mr. Tanba asks the young man to trade places with him. The young man calms down and feels ashamed by Tanba’s offer. All Tanba did was give the man a different perspective on his job by offering to trade places with him. Heaven and Hell are relative. One’s Hell could be someone else’s Heaven and vise versa. Rokuchan’s happiness comes from not what he sees with his eyes but from what he feels in his heart, the perspective he chooses to have on his situation. Like the landfill where he lives, there are treasures and dreams to be found among the trash.

Watching Dodes’ka-den is watching an artist with complete command of his craft. This is a very entertaining film. The film comes with a 36 minute documentary called “It’s Wonderful to Create” where the director, Akira Kurosawa, talks about the film’s production and a big budget American film called Runaway Train he planned on making that got scrapped. After getting fired from the film Tora, Tora, Tora he went on to direct Dodes'ka-den. The film runs 2:20:00 but it’s a fast 2:20:00 and is often very funny in spite of its serious subject matter. I have this film on Criterion DVD and it looks great. I highly recommend this film.