Movies - Ran

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Ran (, "chaos") is a 1985 film written and directed by Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa. It is a Jidaigeki (Japanese period drama) depicting the fall of Hidetora Ichimonji (Tatsuya Nakadai), an aging Sengoku-era warlord who decides to abdicate as ruler in favor of his three sons. His kingdom slowly disintegrates as each son struggles for power, murdering rivals and laying waste to the land. Hidetora goes insane after watching his retainers slaughtered in an epic massacre, the centerpiece of the film. As the kingdom crumbles and rival warlords move in for the kill, the Ichimonji clan collapses in a culmination of revenge and betrayal as old scores are finally settled. The story is based on legends of the daimyo Mori Motonari as well as on the Shakespearean tragedy King Lear.

Ran was Kurosawa's last great epic. With a budget of $12 million it was the most expensive Japanese film ever produced. Kurosawa would direct three other films before he died, but none would be so large scale. The film was hailed for its powerful images and use of color – costume designer Emi Wada won an Academy Award for Costume Design for her work on Ran. The distinctive film score, written by Toru Takemitsu, plays in isolation with the normal sound muted–particularly as Hidetora's castle is destroyed.

Plot

According to Stephen Prince, Ran is "a relentless chronicle of base lust for power, betrayal of the father by his sons, and pervasive wars and murders that destroy all the main characters." It is a tale about the downfall of the once-powerful Ichimonji clan after its patriarch Hidetora decides to give control of his kingdom up to his three sons: Taro, Jiro, and Saburo. Taro, the eldest, will receive the prestigious First Castle and become leader of the Ichimonji clan, while Jiro and Saburo will be given the Second and Third Castles. Jiro and Saburo are to support Taro, and Hidetora illustrates this by using a bundle of arrows. Hidetora will remain the titular leader and retain the title of Great Lord. Saburo criticizes the logic of Hidetora's plan. Hidetora achieved power through treachery, he reminds his father, yet he foolishly expects his sons to be loyal to him. Hidetora mistakes these comments for a threat and when his servant Tango comes to Saburo's defense, he banishes both of them.

Following Hidetora's abdication, Taro's wife Lady Kaede begins pushing for Taro to take direct control of the Ichimonji clan, and engineers a rift between Taro and Hidetora. Matters come to a head when Hidetora kills one of Taro's guards who was threatening his fool Kyoami. When Taro subsequently demands that Hidetora renounce his title of Great Lord, Hidetora storms out of the castle. He then travels to Jiro's castle, only to discover that Jiro is more interested in using Hidetora as a pawn in his own power play. Finally Hidetora journeys to the third castle, which had been abandoned after Saburo's forces followed their lord into exile, only to be ambushed by Taro and Jiro. In a horrific massacre that is the centerpiece of the film, Hidetora's bodyguards and concubines are slaughtered, the castle is set on fire, and Hidetora is left to commit seppuku (ritual suicide). However, much to his dismay, Hidetora's sword has been broken and he cannot commit seppuku. Instead of killing himself, Hidetora goes mad and escapes from the burning castle. As Taro and Jiro's forces storm the castle, Jiro's general Kurogane has Taro assassinated.

Hidetora is discovered wandering in the wilderness by Tango and Kyoami, who along with Saburo become the only people still loyal to him. They take refuge in a peasant's home, only to discover that the peasant is a man named Tsurumaru, Lady Sué's brother (and Hidetora's son-in-law), whom Hidetora had ordered blinded years ago. Upon his return from battle, Jiro begins having an affair with Lady Kaede, who quickly becomes the power behind his throne. She demands that Jiro divorce his wife Lady Sué and marry her instead. When he does so, she also demands for good measure that he have Sué killed. Kurogane is given the order, but he publicly disobeys and warns Jiro not to trust his wife. Meanwhile, Hidetora's party hides out in the remains of a castle that Hidetora had destroyed in an earlier war. At one point Tango kills two men from Hidetora's bodyguard who he discovers had betrayed him. Hidetora's madness causes him to have nightmares about all the people he murdered in his quest for power. The madness finally becomes too much for him to bear; eluding his servants, he flees back into the wilderness.

With Hidetora's location a mystery, Saburo's army crosses back into the kingdom to find him. Alarmed at what he suspects is treachery, Jiro hastily mobilizes his army to stop them. The two forces meet on the field of Hachiman. Sensing a major battle, Saburo's new patron, a warlord named Fujimaki, marches to the border. Another rival warlord, Ayabe, also shows up with his own army. After arranging a truce with Jiro, Saburo rides off to find Hidetora. But Jiro orders an attack anyway, and his forces are decimated by arquebus fire from Saburo's army. In the middle of the battle, word reaches Jiro and Kurogane that Ayabe has slipped away and is marching on the First Castle. Jiro's army promptly disintegrates and flees back to the castle, where Kurogane slays Lady Kaede after she admits that she herself had planned for events to transpire this way all along. Jiro, Kurogane, and Jiro's men all die in the battle that follows. Lady Sué is also finally murdered by one of Jiro's men.

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