After seeing Seven Samurai, I became an unwavering fan of the great Japanese film director Akira Kurosawa. His were some of the best works in films that I’ve ever seen, and to date I’m counting ten that I’ve watched. It is no wonder that he is regarded with such respect in the industry. His use of light, oblique camera perspective, contrast and symbolism make his films most desirable to watch especially in dramatic black and white. He also used music in the most nontraditional way. Top that off with the acting of the brilliant actor Toshiro Mifune and you have a work of art.
Kurosawa explores the Japanese themes of honor and discipline. Known for his sword-swinging epics, such as Seven Samurai, the experience that one derives from his films is not one of violence. There is action and fighting but done in an artistic rendering sometimes coupled with clownish entertainment. If one is given just one film to see from his long list, one would most likely to pick his masterpiece and 1954 classic Rashomon.
The story is simple but the structure is not. It takes place in 12th century Japan. A rape, murder and the messy truth narrated through the differing accounts of four witnesses, the rapist, the samurai, the woodcutter and the noblewoman. This recount of a trial testimony was a series of dramatic flashbacks and each story is entirely different from the previous account.
The movie gave psychology the word 'Rashomon Effect'. Wikipedia describes 'Rashomon Effect' as...
"The Rashomon effect is the effect of the subjectivity of perception on recollection, by which observers of an event are able to produce substantially different but equally plausible accounts of it".
"The Rashomon effect is the effect of the subjectivity of perception on recollection, by which observers of an event are able to produce substantially different but equally plausible accounts of it".
Rashomon Effect came to mind when I couldn't get that story straight. Did I see a blue car or was it a gray one? How many times have we passed by that same lobby at our office and took notice of what painting was on the wall or how large or small the painting was? One day, while waiting for the elevator, we suddenly do not recall that same painting occupying that entire space on the wall. It's a different perspective this time. Someone else will perceive this in a different frame depending on their expectation and training. Similarly, everyone has a different take on the same person or same event.
The truth is we humans see things differently; the same object can produce different pictures in our heads. The fuzzy nature of our memory over time makes us have these conflicting recollections about a lot of our stories in life. We tend to forget what we want to forget and sharpen the memories we want to keep or treasure and I have many of those.
"Rashomon" is now a by-word for any situation wherein the truth of an event becomes difficult to verify, especially when there is more than one eyewitness. It is not that we lied when we told the story. It is not that we exaggerated the truth. The intention is not to embellish but that it was our perception at the time. My own experiences in life explain how "perspective distorts reality" and life's ups and downs somehow illustrate the "subjectivity of perception on recollection".
It is clear to me now what Kurosawa was trying to convey.
The film says we are what we want to be, not who we really are.
The film says we are what we want to be, not who we really are.
