Analysis Of Rashomon Akira Kurosawa

The 1950 film Rashomon Akira Kurosawa is set in medieval Japan on a stormy crime ridden day. A man has been found dead in the forest and three eye witnesses of the murder are reported. However, their accounts of what happened seriously contradict each other. The movie symbolizes how easily distorted the writing of history can be through the use of credibility, differing points of view, as well as compare and contrasting, which are all crucial tools historians use to reconstruct the past. The use of credibility is shown at the end of the film when a commoner questions a woodcutter's actions. The commoner is able to decipher that the woodcutters reasoning against telling his story at the trial is not because he simply didn’t want to get involved but because he stole an expensive dagger from the crime scene. This displays that part of the woodcutter’s story
For instance, a fighting scene is illustrated conflictingly by two separate accounts. In the bandit’s story, he fights a noble battle with the husband, even crossing swords with him 23 times. However, on the over hand, the women watching the combat depicts it as awkward and clumsy. It is possible that Tajomaru, the bandit, could have imagined his point of view and that he was so caught up in the battle to see he wasn’t really being a heroic and noble fighter. Another explanation to these contradictory point of views is that the woman did not accurately recall the fight. Being that the time period is medieval Japan it is very likely she had no experience in sword fighting and saw the impressive battle as absurd and senseless. Point of view is paramount when studying history for reasons like these. It is completely possible that one can remember an occurrence differently because the adrenaline they are filled with in the moment, or thet may give an entirely different account of a situation then someone more experienced in the