"Ran" is loosely based on "King Lear," the great Shakespeare play about that point in your life when you look back at everything you've done and hope to be able to rely on all of it as a backbone for rest and relaxation in the last years of one's life. When King Lear looked back, though, he saw that everything was not well. In fact, he discovered his justful arrogance let loose to ignorance, and that all of the horrible things he had done in his life and all of those things that were the opposite of what he believed all came to haunt him simulataneously.

      Looking at this story, which has been told countless times, it hardly seems like it needed to be told again, not the least in the form of a classic samurai melodrama as directed by Japan's greatest director, the recently-late Akira Kurosawa, who had directed such masterpieces as "The Seven Samurai" and "Rashomon," amongst numerous others. But then again, Kurosawa's films were never mere "samurai melodramas," not even his most popcorn-y films as "The Hidden Fortress."

      Kurosawa directed "Ran" at the age of 75, nearly blind, relying on others to help him conceive his shots, and allowing for an effortless R rating with the most graphic, gory violence he had ever done, not even in "The Seven Samurai." His reason for directing this was, most likely, out of fear that he was in fact Lear himself, as is the fear of anyone who has ever read or seen the play performed before. With decades of films that were almost consecutively praised by critics and audiences alike as masterpieces, perhaps he was fearing that his numerous accomplishments would give way to haughty arrogance, and that perhaps there were things going on behind his back that he didn't know.

      The story itself deals with an aging Japanese Lord, Hidetora (Tatsuya Nakadai), who decides at the point in his life when he feels that he has achieved everything he has wanted to achieve, and that everything is fair in his land, to finally retire. He decides to divide his land into three, shelved out to his three sons, Taro, Jiro, and Saburo (Akira Terao, Jinpachi Nezu, and Daisuke Ryu, respectively), with the most prominent lands given in order of age. In one scene, he decides to demonstrate the fallacy that this will all work out well by showing them that one arrow can easily be broken, but when three are together, it is much more difficult to break.

      Sadly, though, Saburo disagrees with his father, and will have no part in it. Hidetora, without hardly a pause, banishes his son, as well as anyone who stands up for him. But when he tries living with each of his two sons he still holds in high adoration, he discovers that they have different plans, and they soon drive him away one by one. Without any sons to fall back on, he retires with his army and numerous concubines to Saburo's old deserted castle, where a ghastly battle occurs over his possession between his army and the armies of Taro and Jiro, both who now only think of him as someone in the way and not even as their father.

      Joined only by the faithful comic relief, Kyoami, the Fool (played by Peter...just Peter), and an old assistant, Tango (Masayuki Yui), Hidetora ends up wandering around the landscape, slowly but surely growing madder and madder. But as he loses his sanity, things continue to get worse around him. A plot develops after Taro is killed in battle between his widow, Lady Kaede (Mieko Harada), and Jiro, who begins to control the weakest brother, and an old wound opens when Hidetora stumbles upon an old foe who's eyes he poked out when he was a kid.

      The entire story has been told many many times before, but it really needs someone who understands what this story entails. There are many a contradiction in the telling of the story, such as the optimism of a good life's led bringing about a pessimism of everything to come. Kurosawa has no doubtedly had these thoughts, knowing the chronicle of his life, and he ends up telling "Ran" with an understanding of these paradoxes, as well as with some major opposites. There are two major battle sequences in this film, for example, and the way they're handled directly contradict the way the other scenes are handled.

      His battle scenes are gory, gratuitous, unevenly paced, and merciless. Most importantly, very little is accomplished in them. But most of the film is filled with chamber-like scenes of people talking, but very much happens. Take for example a scene where Lady Kaede confronts Jiro about her husband's death, and during the course of the scene, threatens his life, seduces him, and totally usurps any power he ever had. As such, it takes great patience to watch "Ran," since everything is told at a leisurely pace, disappointing anyone who thought that "Ran" was just "King Lear, only with samurais and gore."

      But the reason "Ran" really works is because it's a great story that is told exceptionally well. Kurosawa's style really works becuase it allows us to look at the drama of the story. The reason we should be motivated to sit through all 160 minutes without a break should not be because every hour and 10 minutes, there's a really nifty battle scene. It's because it transcends all that and really tells the story. A film is never more boring when it's filled with shallow characters taking the easy way out of very dilemna they're charged with. "Ran" gives its characters numerous connundrums, and by the end, everything has been dealt with so badly that it becomes exactly what the title translates to: Chaos.

      Watching "Ran," it's easy to see why Kurosawa is so heavily received commercially and critically: he doesn't bullshit his audience with a style that ultimately overcomes the story, and he always worries about the way his characters are handled. Visually, the design is incredible. The film is beautifully shot, and the color scheme in this film is brilliant. During the battle scenes, each army is fitted with a certain color, and when they clash together, it's one of the most breathtaking images ever to grace the screen. His story-telling is wonderful: he paces the film slowly so that all the elements effortlessly come out, and never feel forced. Watching Hidetora's life crumble around upon him is simply stunning, and it could have easily been ruined by direction that was quick and jolting.

      I've seen "Ran" twice, once by myself, and another time in a small college theatre with a crowd who was less enthused than I was about the way the film was made. "Ran" holds up for multiple viewings because of the passion that it is told with. We can sense the pain Kurosawa has when he tells the story of Hidetora, so much that he shoots most of everything from a safe distance, maybe hinting that he hopes we never have to arrive at a point like Hidetora's, or Lear's. But when watching this, when we see how he deftly controls his characters and his scenes, and how everything is told with the right amount of looseness and structure, then I guess that at this point, Kurosawa ironically had very little to worry about.

Ted Prigge, 1985