Kino immer anders
In medieval Japan, during a period of civil war, the corpse of a brutally murdered samurai is found in the depths of the forest. In a complex, multi-layered narrative, Akira Kurosawa presents four versions of the events in the course of a trial: the testimony of a bandit, of the victim’s wife, of the late samurai himself, as well as the version of the woodsman who found the lifeless body. Throughout the film, however, the versions diverge and never coincide. Flashbacks, three locations, and four versions are all different but all credible.
How can we know who holds the truth, and why do they lie about it? As well as having an innovative montage and giving its name to a concept of differing perspectives on the same event, Akira Kurosawa’s work opened the public’s eyes to non-Western cinema. A virtuoso and pioneering film, Rashomon questions the nature of truth and the notion of subjectivity, the meaning of justice, and the position of lies in society.
Aurore Galy
