Bushido, an inexhaustible topic, a film subject that cannot be finished.
There are at least ten Japanese movies about samurai that are worth watching, and I thought it was a must-see, and there were only two.
Today, I will briefly talk about one of them: The Cruel Story of Bushido.
Bushido is the spiritual heart of the samurai, in a word, loyalty to the king is the first priority.
Although the two schools of Bushido, the Ye Yin school and the Confucian school have different emphases.
But loyalty is an absolute value.
In the process of historical advancement, foolishness and tragedy are like a pair of unfortunate twins, accompanying each other, emerging in an endless stream, and finally becoming the martyrdom of the militaristic Japanese imperialism in modern times.
In 1963, Imai directed The Cruel Tale of Bushido, written by Naoyuki Suzuki.
Masumasa Imai, a member of the Communist Party, was a left-leaning ideology and the initiator of the Independent Production Movement in Japan. The movement, which was primarily aimed at freeing itself from the capital constraints of large corporations, lasted for more than a decade and gave birth to a large number of Critical Realist Japanese filmmakers.
Japanese filmmakers have such a pursuit in the 1940s and 1950s, which also shows that Japanese films have a continuous source of innovative spirit.
The Cruel Tale of Bushido is the first Japanese film to sharply criticize the Bushido system, and its avant-garde character is unique.
Even today, the screenwriter Naoyuki Suzuki's drama technique is still commendable, through the form of diary retrospective series, condensing the blind foolishness of seven generations of a samurai family for three hundred years, and vividly lashing out at the Bushido system.
The protagonist of the film, Iikoura Jin's fiancée, suddenly committed suicide, hurried to the hospital's Iizuka jin in the moment of guarding his fiancée, wandering, confused, helpless, so he began to reminisce about family history.
He had a samurai family that lasted for three hundred years, six or seven generations.
And how to solve the terrible samurai spirit that has been pressed on the body for hundreds of years has become the theme of this film from beginning to end.
Because of the shackles of the samurai loyal spirit, the Iakura family has experienced humiliation for generations and cannot die well.
Committing suicide for the Lord, martyrdom, becoming a male favorite, giving his daughter as a gift to the lord of the domain, his fiancée being defiled, sacrificing his life for the Emperor during World War II, and making worthless sacrifices...
The portrayal of the character image in this film now seems too black and white, the lords of the clan are cruel and suspicious, perverted and despicable, greedy and shameless guys, while the samurai of the Iakura family, one loyal to each other, are tortured, and would rather trample on justice than betray the lord of the clan.
Nevertheless, the characters in the film, although typical and prominent, are very rare.
Carrying out foolishness to the end, with the life and dignity of himself and his family, he wrote a cruel story of Bushido that was both pathetic and pitiful.
Imai is the first Asian director to win the Best Director Award at the Berlin Film Festival, and this film won the Golden Bear at the 13th Berlin Film Festival, which was a big business card of the year, and now few fans know about it, which is a pity.
The most famous thing about this film is the strong spirit of reflection and criticism in the film.
Reflection is like a spark that can ignite the plains.
But before you burn the plains, go deep into your soul and look for the source of the fire of reflection.