Friday night my friend Dave came over, bearing Akira Kurosawa
DVDs. We settled down to an evening of fresh-baked home-made chocolate
chip cookies and Ran, Kurosawa’s version of Shakespeare’s King
Lear. Dave is a film buff, and Kurosawa’s pretty much his favorite
director.

I’ve never been fond of the story of King Lear; the old King is a foolish
man, and a bad judge of character. It’s always seemed to me that he got
what was coming to him (not that his two older daughters were great
prizes either). But I have to say, the story makes a lot more sense in
Japanese. Kurosawa transforms it into the story of the Great Lord, an
elderly nobleman who has conquered a great domain for himself,
slaughtering all those who opposed him.

The Great Lord has three sons, Taro, Jiro,
and Saburo, and in his great age he announces (at a party) that he is
handing day-to-day command over to his oldest son Taro; and that each of
his sons will be given command of a castle. He will live with each of
them in turn through the year.

His youngest son, Saburo, tells him that he’s acting like a senile old
fool to trust his children so. And this is where moving the story to
Japan works for me: by challenging his father at a party, before guests,
Saburo (who is only telling the truth, after all) has caused his father
to lose face. The Great Lord gives his son the chance to recant, but
when Saburo remains obdurate the Great Lord banishes him.

Is this a nice way for families to behave? No; but at least it makes
more sense to me.

And then there’s the Lady Kaede. I don’t believe she has any exact
equivalent in Shakespeare’s play; she’s the wife of Taro, and it so
happens, she’s the only survivor of a noble family wiped out by the Great
Lord. It’s as though Lady MacBeth was transplanted into King
Lear–but instead of being ambitious for her husband, she’s ambitious
for revenge. One can hardly blame her, but the portrayal is chilling.

So did I like it? Well enough, considering. It’s a tragedy, and I
usually don’t do tragedies; the tragic flaw usually strikes me as
avoidable stupidity, and I hate watching that. But I’m not sorry I saw
it.