Rashomon - The Darkness of Human Nature

Stephon 2022-03-22 09:01:34

A simple story with a lot of tension. The whole film plus the concise video of only 8 babies, but it is so moving.

"Rashomon" shows the darkness of human nature nakedly. Selfishness, hypocrisy, let everyone make up their own lies for their own benefit, so that the truth is not known. Or, what they said was indeed the truth, but it was the "truth" distorted by themselves in their own eyes.

In the narration, the robber focused on his wit and heroism, omitting the embarrassing scenes in which he knelt down and begged a woman and fought with a samurai.

In her narration, the woman emphasized that her husband had neither sorrow nor pity after suffering this tragedy, but treated her with indifferent eyes. Missing a lot of scenes about why the two men fought and how the husband died.

The husband's "description" is full of resentment and anger towards his wife. He missed the key details of his ruthlessness towards his wife and his cowardice, and why his wife turned against him.

In the film, the actor who plays the woman Zhensha has great acting skills. From being dignified sitting on a horse; crying in despair when seeing her husband tied up and knowing her situation; picking up a knife in self-defense; crouching on the ground with sadness; to an angry rebuke to two men at the end... Cowardice is just right, exceptionally brilliant. Seeing this woman reminded me of the eldest son's wife, Kaede, in Akira Kurosawa's other masterpiece "Ran". Like the two women, both have a gentle and lovable exterior, with the same sturdy personality and effective instigation to men.

In "Rashomon", we see the darkest and ugliest side of the three people, but we don't have much reason to scold any of them, because they seem to be ourselves.

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Extended Reading
  • Ashlynn 2021-11-13 08:01:23

    Lies are the life-saving straw for humanity

  • Sandra 2022-03-22 09:01:34

    People just think they are honest, and where there is weakness there is a lie. But everyone has weakness inside, and builds the illusion that everyone uses lies to show, and how long does it take for the dark Rashomon in everyone's heart to clear up?

Rashomon quotes

  • Tajômaru: [Recalls luring the wife to the grove after telling her her husband has been bitten] She became very pale and stared at me as though her eyes were frozen. She looked like a child when it turns suddenly serious. The sight of her made me jealous of that man. I started to hate him. I wanted to show her what he looked like, all tied up like that. I hadn't even thought of a thing like that before, but now I did.

  • Woodcutter: I don't understand. I just don't understand. I don't understand it at all. I just don't understand.