Movie: "Rashomon"

[Bob Pr.]

B&W, Japanese, 1950, 88 min. Won Oscar for best foreign film. Widely considered among the top 10 films of all time, the first notable film by the master director, Kurosawa. Roger Ebert's review is very informative:
http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/...205260301/1023

The following is adapted from my review on IMDb.com:

Rashomon = literally "The City's Gate"

This movie tells the story of a journey in medieval times by a Japanese samurai nobleman and his wife through a forest. They are attacked by a bandit and in the fight the nobleman is killed. There is a trial at which we hear the bandit's version and then the wife's. A Bhuddist medium summons the soul of the dead man and gives his version. While many events coincide (a fight, a death), the meanings and implications in each version differ a great deal.

Three men discuss the events and significance of the differences while they take shelter from a pouring rain under the gate to the city. One of these is a woodcutter; he not only observed the trial and tells his companions what was said but, hidden from view in the forest, he also actually saw the events and now tells his version. Again we find the coinciding events but the differing meanings and implications. He'd not told anyone else what he'd seen or testified because he didn't want to get involved. He's very puzzled and disturbed as to why each version differs, what do these differences say about the nature of people?

This is a powerful, beautiful movie which altered the linear style of movie narratives that had existed until then and opened new vistas, e.g., "Crash," "Hero" and Eastwood's two "Iwo Jimas"s. When I first saw this movie 40 years ago, its slight misogynist flavor (women are manipulative) didn't register on me and probably didn't on most others in the 1950s-60s; our culture has probably shifted a great deal since then.

But "Rashomon" has significance far beyond its contribution to movie making.

I'll point to its influence on Family Therapy (and therapy in general) and also on how we view history or any point of view.

"The Rashomon Effect" (a term used in family systems thinking) refers to the quite different perceptions that even closely related individuals will have of the same event or person. E.g., in any family, say one with several children, no family member has quite the same view of any other family member. In a sense, none of the children have quite the same mother or father and therefore must view them and each other differently. The first born child entered the family when it had a certain financial level and experiences. The second child enters when the parents have been changed by time and the experience of a first child so they are not quite the same parents. If the parents invested in the first child particular aspirations or hopes, favoritism or disfavor, that must strongly color that child's view of them and any younger siblings, as well as a second child's view of each parent, the older sib, etc.... These various views can differ greatly among all members of that family system. "The Rashomon Effect" identifies and emphasizes the existence of these differences....

[BigBrownDog]

Brilliant movie. I am a big fan of Kurosawa.