Two films, two time periods, two languages, and two different countries yet one central concern- humanity. …show more content…
Rashomon Rashomon (1950), is a Japanese film based on the Heian Period in Japan and is directed by the famous and renowned director Akira Kurosawa. A samurai is murdered, his bride is raped, and the bandit who murdered the samurai is caught, however, the tales of what happened in the forest during the scene of the crime is muddied as each witness gives a different account of the accident. The film focuses beyond the content within the lies and questions the need for humans to lie, even after death. In creating Rashomon, like De Angelis, Kurosawa cleverly shot in Kyoto to accurately represent an ancient Japan whose capital was Heian-Kyo, aka Kyoto. Everything in the film was cleverly crafted and centered to represent growing disdain for the truth. The musical score wonderfully composed by Fumio Hayasaka, would be paired with an extreme close up shot of a character’s frightened face to evoke emotions within the audience. Akira Kurosawa boldly used wipes to convey the passage of time and the change of one scene to another, usually from the forest to the Rashomon gate. Parallel action is matched with point-of-view shots to create a seamless flow and perfect pace of events. A great example of this is the scene where the samurai commits seppuku and his movements are matched with the next shot of the miko (Japanese shrine maiden) completing the action of bending over and falling