Akira Kurosawa shot this black-and-white film in 1957, adapted from Shakespeare's play "Macbeth". By his old partner Shinobu Hashimoto, the hero of the small country, and Ryuzo Kikushima, as well as himself wrote the script. After the film was released, it received wide acclaim and was praised by Western film critics as one of the most successful adaptations of Shakespeare's plays.
The process of this film is not complicated, it can even be said to be simple and clear, but under the guidance of Akira Kurosawa, the film shows strong dramatic charm and profound meaning.
The background of the story was arranged by Akira Kurosawa in the Warring States Period of Japan. A spider nest city surrounded by dense forests, with complex terrain, easy to defend and difficult to attack, is a must for military strategists. The idea that the film places the background of the era here is also obvious. In times of war, human desires will be exposed to the greatest extent. Desire is one of the themes of the film.
The general and the lieutenant fought against the enemy and were recalled to be canonized by the city lord of the spider nest city, but they got lost in the spider forest on the way. The intricate branches and the solemn white fog brought the two of them into a confused place where they could not make accurate judgments about the outside world. And this is another theme expressed in the film.
In the strange appearance of the witch in the forest, she can meet the future, or she can dominate the future, I am not sure. The general and deputy will know their future positions from her mouth. The film only tells their positions here, but does not predict their fate. This is really scary stuff.
The above is the first half of the film. After learning about their official position, some people will be satisfied, and some people will be dissatisfied. If it were me, I think this is enough to arouse my strong desire to challenge the future. I don't want my destiny to be so clearly arranged by others. The general's desire is stronger than mine, and his wife is even more so. They have a clear goal. They want to be the lord of the spider nest city!
The second half of the film is not tortuous, and in the end they do, and the general becomes the lord of the city.
But the method he chose was wrong. Under the instigation of his wife, he brutally killed the original city lord, and then mercilessly killed the deputy general who grew up together. In this way, in the predetermined plot, the film uses the evil greed of the general to promote the story, and in the eyes of the audience with clear values, as his atrocities push him step by step into the quagmire of death, we want to To stop his ideas from falling apart again and again. The ugly side of desire is powerfully expressed, terrifying! Lamentable!
After becoming the lord of the city, he faced the threat of death. Zebao led the army back to Spider Nest City.
He was frightened, he was so frightened by the unpredictable future that he came to the woods to ask the witch, he wanted to know the prophecy, the witch was very direct: he would only be defeated if the spider nest city moved towards the castle. He thought it was impossible, (I was thinking when I watched it: it's over, it will definitely move, I don't know how to move it.) He went back and told the soldiers, who also thought it was impossible, they thought they would win. . But the spider nest city really moved towards the castle. The soldiers thought it was possible and lost, so the arrows shot their city lord into a hedgehog.
The time when the enemy is attacking the city is the last part of the film. The plot of this section plays the rhythm of the story and the simple and direct expression of fate. He boosted morale because of the witch's prophecy, but he could only see how the prophecy unfolded. In an instant, also because of the prophecy, the soldiers shot him to death.
Of course, I later learned that it was the enemy army under the command of Noribao who used the branches as camouflage. Everyone clinged to the back of the tree and used animals of all sizes to carry the tree forward. Although I don't think it is clever, it works. After the layers of fog, the city lord was first frightened, and he was shot to death before he had time to be confused.
The film ends with a bleak singing, which echoes throughout the film, thus embodying the idea that the tragedy of Spider's Nest is continuous and cyclical.
Whether it is desire that makes us lost in the fog of the outside world, or whether the fog makes us have a strong desire, I don't know.
But I do not agree with the interpretation of desire in the film itself and the understanding of desire in the film by many people. I don't think desire is wrong, I'm not a Taoist. This society advocates active accession to the WTO, especially Kurosawa Akira, who is the incarnation of the samurai. Only what is the purpose of desire and what means should be used to achieve it should be considered. You can't force the general not to think about being a city lord, and the way of the mean doesn't dare to say it's wrong, but you can't think that it is wrong to have the desire to be a city lord. "A soldier who does not want to be a general is not a good soldier," Napoleon said. Desire made Napoleon a great success, and desire made Napoleon a great failure. Who can explain the inevitable relationship between desire and Napoleon's success or failure? In the film, the general's wife persuaded her husband to commit murder, using words for the purpose of self-protection, and the general was also confused by what he said. He can't predict and determine the external things, so he wants to use his own power to change the fate's arrangement to relieve his fear, but after his brutal resistance again and again, he completely follows the fate's trajectory.
I am deeply impressed by the death of the general, and I even feel a little sad when I think about it now. I can see a lot of things from him. He is not bad, just a little stupid.
In the end, who can really break out of the layers of fog and dense labyrinth of Spider Nest City, and finally walk towards the Bright Avenue?
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