|
I just finished watching Ran. (Ran is not an idependent word in native Japanese, FTR, but it is an element in a number of words having the notion of randomness -- bilingual pun not intended). As the readership will know, Ran is Kurosawa's retelling of Shakespeare's King Lear (Kurosawa was quite fascinated by Shakespeare). Shakespeare, of course, was writing in the English High Renaissance, during the reign of Elizabeth I, but the plots of his semi-historical tragedies (and Shakespeare probably thought of King Lear as being historical, although it is not) are from the High Medieval period, which was very similar to the Sengoku Jidai setting that Kurosawa gave to Ran (for those readers not well versed in Japanese history, the Sengoku Jidai, the "Age of Wars", was that period of feudal chaos in Japan both cause and effect of the collapse of the Ashikaga dynasty of shôgun. It's considered to begin with the Ônin War of 1467-1477, and end in Tokugawa Ieyasu's victory at Sekigahara in 1600). The basic plot of King Lear is clearly and immediately recognizable in Ran; although it's been a few years since I've read King Lear, I think that Kurosawa may have lifted a few lines of Shakespeare's dialogue and translated them in Japanese. The Gloucester sub-plot has no equivalent (although the banished-but-loyal samurai Hideyada Tango has echoes of Edgar in him), but Kurosawa introduces his own sub-plots in Lady Kaede's revenge and the sufferings of Lady Sué's family (both are the daughters-in-law of Ichimonji Hidetora -- the Lear figure of the film -- and both of their families were treacherously destroyed by Hidetora -- a too-common occurence in feudal Japan). The setting of the film is faithful to the late Sengoku Jidai (and, incidentally, the muskets used by the ashigaru -- peasant infantry -- are accurately portrayed, although the tactics seem a little advanced for a film obviously set before Oda Nobunaga's rise to power). Many of the incidents will be familiar to anyone even moderately familiar with the period, as will the costumes, customs, etc. Kurosawa was willing to have his battle scenes, where appropriate, partially or even wholly obscured by smoke and flame (see the taking of the Third Castle by Tora's and Jiro's troops, who then turn on each other), which only adds to the realism of what, to Western and perhaps, even, Japanese eyes, is a setting far divorced from modern times. Ran is not a mere translation of King Lear, but a brilliant adaptation by Kurosawa of a tale that, stripped of its inessential cultural elements, is common in speaking to both nations, not only of their pasts, but of the human condition that they both will recognize. John "Akatsukami" Braue Friday, April 19, 2002 |
|