Rashomon ( In the Woods ) ( Rasho-Mon )

Rashomon (DVD) (*)

~~$20.99~~ $14.97

Original Title: In the Woods
Alternate Title: Rasho-Mon
Screened, competed or awarded at:
BAFTA Awards
Oscar Academy Awards
Other Film Festival Awards

Language Selections:
English ( Subtitles )
Japanese ( Dolby Digital 2.0 )

Product Origin/Format:
Australia ( PAL/Region 4 )

Running Time:
85 min

Aspect Ratio:
Fullscreen

Special Features:
Alternative Footage
Cast/Crew Interview(s)
Documentary
Interactive Menu
Photo Gallery
Trailer(s)
Black & White

Movie filmed in 1950 and produced in:
Japan ( India, Eastern Asia )

Directed By:
Akira Kurosawa

Written By:
Akira Kurosawa
Ryunosuke Akutagawa

Actors:
Toshirô Mifune ..... Tajômaru
Machiko Kyô ..... Masako
Masayuki Mori ..... Takehiro
Takashi Shimura ..... Woodcutter
Minoru Chiaki ..... Priest
Kichijiro Ueda ..... Commoner
Fumiko Honma ..... Medium
Daisuke Katô ..... Policeman

Synopsis:

This landmark film is a brilliant exploration of truth and human weakness. It opens with a priest, a woodcutter, and a peasant taking refuge from a downpour beneath a ruined gate in 12th-century Japan. The priest and the woodcutter, each looking stricken, discuss the trial of a notorious bandit for rape and murder. As the retelling of the trial unfolds, the participants in the crime -- the bandit (Toshiro Mifune), the rape victim (Machiko Kyo), and the murdered man (Masayuki Mori) -- tell their plausible though completely incompatible versions of the story. In the bandit's version, he and the man wage a spirited duel after the rape, resulting in the man's death. In the woman's testimony, she is spurned by her husband after being raped. Hysterical with grief, she kills him. In the man's version, speaking through the lips of a medium, the bandit beseeches the woman after the rape to go away with him. She insists that the bandit kill her husband first, which angers the bandit. He spurns her and leaves. The man kills himself. Seized with guilt, the woodcutter admits to the shocked priest and the commoner that he too witnessed the crime. His version is equally feasible, although his veracity is questioned when it is revealed that he stole a dagger from the crime scene. Just as all seems bleak and hopeless, a baby appears behind the gate. The commoner seizes the moment and steals the child's clothes, while the woodcutter redeems himself and humanity in the eyes of the troubled priest, by adopting the infant.

In 12th century Japan, a samurai and his wife are attacked by the notorious bandit Tajomaru, and the samurai ends up dead. Tajomaru is captured shortly afterward and is put on trial, but his story and the wife's are so completely different that a psychic is brought in to allow the murdered man to give his own testimony. He tells yet another completely different story. Finally, a woodcutter who found the body reveals that he saw the whole thing, and his version is again completely different from the others.

This product was added to our catalog on Tuesday 05 December, 2006.

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