The film recounts a bandit raping a woman and then her husband’s death four times. The first three of these times are told by the bandit, the woman, and the husband. The final account is given by a witness that didn’t come forward to tell their story to the authorities. The framing for hearing the stories is a group of men, one of whom found the murdered man, speaking on the absurdity of three completely different stories of what took place. The most obvious symbols in the story to me were the weapons. The woman’s knife being valuable, which becomes very important, and the swords of the bandit and the samurai seeming to symbolize honor. They draw their swords in each of their accounts to engage the other man fairly and honorably.

The film seems to be suggesting that all men are self interested, but as it wraps up asks more deeply about the witness’s morality. Stealing from the scene of a crime and as a result wishing to stay away from the investigation. The stealing is clearly justified by the witness’s apparent need as indicated by his having 6 children and taking on another as the film concludes.

The structure is beautiful in the telling of this story. seeing the parallels between each person’s story so clearly is incredibly compelling and serves beautifully to highlight their motivations in telling an altered truth. The scenes of each character speaking to the police is an incredible lead in as well, showing even more what they wish to portray themselves as.

I found the bandit’s story the most trustworthy, because his motivation to me seemed the most obvious. He had some clear image that he was putting forth, and knowing that made the embellishments more obvious even though it was the first story I heard.

The priests giving the child over, struck me in two ways. The priests refusal to give the child up at first made it clear that he had distrust for the witness, as distrust had been shown to be reasonable for all men. The giving over the child however had me questioning whether the priest understood the witness’s motivations, or rather saw in himself no trustworthiness greater than the man before him. This latter thought to me is much more compelling.

I love the film medium for telling this story. when seeing the tale told three times, theres clarity in video that cant be in written word. Theres continuity that would feel redundant in text, seeing the same brushes and the same clearing, the same terrain is a wonderful way to contrast the stories. There isn’t that ability to lay out every detail of the setting three consecutive times while remaining engaging.