- The plot of Rashomon starts with a priest and a woodsman sitting inside of an abandoned building discussing events that transpired in the past few days. A vagabond comes into the abandoned building and asks them about their story. The woodsman tells the stranger about his day. He went to the mountains to collect wood, but saw a man’s corpse and his belongings. The woodman flees the scene and reports his findings to the police. From this point on witnesses are called to testify about the death of the man, but everyone’s story is different. At the end of the film, the group of men find a baby in a kimono. The vagabond steals the valuables on the baby, and is then rebuked by the the woodsman. After their argument, the vagabond leaves with the valuables and the woodsman decides to take care of the baby, which restores the priest’s faith in humanity.
2. Symbols:
- Forest: The forest represents mystery and the unknown. It lacks light and is secluded, which makes it hard for the characters in the film to discern the true events that transpire within it.
- Amulet: The amulet represents greed. In the middle of the story Tajomaru mentions that he should have took the amulet in the woman’s dagger because it was valuable. Later on the vagabond suspects the woodsman of stealing the amulet and laughs because he knows that he was possessed by his greed.
3. Philosophical questions:
- Is anyone in the world truly good?- This question is relevant because in the modern world, people are finding new ways to be corrupt and cause misery for others. Also, humans that are considered “good” still have the capacity for “evil” in the form of stealing, envy, and etc.
- Can anyone be trusted?- This question is relevant because no one can really remember an event with 100% accuracy. This fact is made worse when many people remember an event differently. It’s for this reason that many cases are left unfinished or people get wrongly convicted.
4. The structure of the film is important to it’s story telling because it doesn’t confirm which of the 4 stories was accurate or who the real killer is. This makes the viewer as confused as the characters. The beginning of the story lays the groundwork for the plot and basic facts, and the main portion of the movie is dedicated to hearing the same story from the perspective of 4 different people. The way that the actions of the characters change with each story makes the viewer second guess them self until they can’t discern the truth at the end. This conclusion strengthens the film’s point of humans not being able to find the truth of any event.
5. I found Tajomaru’s story the most trustworthy because he didn’t have any reason to lie. Tajomaru knew that he would be killed soon so he wouldn’t gain anything by lying to the court. The samurai’s wife was in emotional distress and fainted before the samurai dies. This implies that the samurai killed himself, but doesn’t confirm it. Unlike the other two, The samurai had a grudge against his wife. This grudge makes the samurai center his story around his wife and Tajomaru’s interaction rather than the fight that the two men had. The last witness was the woodsman, but because he wasn’t directly involved with the event, I think that he might have missed a few details.
6. I think Kurosawa is trying to say that there is still hope for humans to do good things through the baby. When the woodsman offers to take the baby, the priest says that his faith in humanity is restored. I think that Kurosawa is acknowledging the fact that humans aren’t complete good, but can still do good things for themselves and for others.
7. I think the thoughts of the characters would be better presented on a page. because they could be described in greater detail. I also think that the setting of the story could be better explained. While the setting of the story is simple, I think that an explanation for the areas involved should be clarified. For instance, I would like an explanation of the history of the tower that the characters are sitting under.