Movie: Kurosawa Ran

During pandemic times, I spent my stimulus money on a 20 DVD set of Kurosawa movies.  Akira Kurosawa is a Japanese director and a master.  His movies inspired Star Wars and spaghetti westerns with Clint Eastwood.  Even if you dislike reading subtitles, it's worth taking a look. 

His movie Rashomon was used to name the Rashomon Effect, which is about the subjectivity of perception on recollection.  People may remember the same event very differently.  

Several of his movies draw on Shakespeare's plays.  Throne of Blood is like Macbeth set in ancient Japan.  

Ran (Chaos) is a movie combining Japanese history with the play King Lear.  The legend of Mōri Motonari tell that he showed his three sons that three arrows bound together cannot be broken as easily as one arrow alone. He was a feudal lord in 16th century Japan.  

The warlord in Ran divides his kingdom among his sons, but like King Lear with his daughters, he takes offense with one, who is then banished.  This movie is incredible in the portrayal of a strong leader in decline.   As you know, King Lear is a tragedy, and so is this film.  

The disgraced leader retains his loyal jester.  A jester is not part of Japanese culture, but in this movie he gets all the best lines.  "Some people can get along fine without God, but everyone seems to need a devil."

As I'm writing this, it seems familiar.  I wonder if I wrote about Ran before. One of the benefits of losing your memory with age, is that you can re-watch great movies over and over...for the first time.