Spectacular would be the adjective if I had to describe Ran in a word. Maybe Ran was’nt Kurosawa’s best, but it was definitely a magnificient statement of his philosophy.
While Rashomon dwelled on the sense of despair,the loss of absolute and the faint glimmer of hope that characterised the post hiroshima times, Ran was about the death of last vestige of hope in humanity which mirrored the condition of modern man in the nuclear race -cold war period .Aptly summed up in the picture of a lone blind man on the edge of a precipice at the twilight hour, who could’nt prevent the scroll of Amida Buddha from slipping away.
“You spilled an ocean of blood. You showed no mercy, no pity. We too are children of this age… weaned on strife and chaos. We are your sons, yet you count on our fidelity. In my eyes, that makes you a fool. A senile old fool!“
While Ran derives its basic premise revolving around the destruction of a family from King Lear, Kurosawa vests it with an added metaphor for the perharps imminent destruction human race. Unlike Lear , Hideotara’s folly does not lie solely in the judeo-christian vice of arrogance, but in attachment, power and the inherent violence . Nor are Kurosawa’s humans at the mercy of a monotheistic God, but men who through their choices and attachments define their fate. God’s are at the very best, silent spectators or empathisers , if not victims.Ideas which could be better understood from a shinto-buddhist framework.
“[The gods] can’t save us from ourselves.”
On cinematic grounds, the aesthete is awe inspiring. Visuals are layered with metaphor without losing out on the visceral impact.Battlefield scenes evoke more awe than horror in a manner reminiscent of Apocalypse now. Acting which draws from the Japanese noh tradition does border on melodrama, but does not have a tendency to distract like in Kurosawa’s earlier films.Music is minimal but brilliantly used. The distracting appeal of images make second viewing a necessity to get a better insight into the technical subtleties.
The final conversation between Fool and Tango , more than sums up the essence of the film . And the half a century spanning career of Kurosawa.
Fool : Are there no gods,no Buddha?“
Fool : “If you exist, hear me! You are cruel.Is it such fun to see a man weep?“
Tango : “It is the gods who weep.Don’t cry. It’s how the world is made. Men prefer sorrow over joy, suffering over peace.“
