Another good samurai film. This one stars Toshiro Mifune but he did not appear to be the same Mifune I had seen in all of the Kurosawa films. This was a Kobayashi film and Mifune’s acting was different in this than in most of the Kurosawa epics.
A man is a respected leader in the army and he is looking for a wife for his son. He wants to find a good wife because his marriage is horrible and he doesn’t want his son to endure the trials of having such a horrible life.
The clan’s leader (Daimyo) sends his men to Isaboro to inform him that one of the lord’s mistresses has offended him and he is dismissing her but wants to keep her from the peasants by marrying her to his son. She has born a son to the lord but her attack on the other wives and on the lord himself has dishonored her. Because her son is not the direct heir, she is deemed “dismissible from the court”.
Isaburo’s wife is upset with the prospect of the “tainted” daughter-in-law but she is looking to climb the social ladder and she thinks this gives her family a little step up. Isaburo is upset because his son deserves more than the lord’s second-hand wives. After stalling as much as possible, they accept the proposal (which was never really a proposal in the first place) and the girl arrives. She is quiet and demure and falls in line with family life right away. The son takes a liking to her and soon the family accepts her wholly. Isaburo likes the new daughter-in-law so much, he retires and makes his son Yogoro the head of the family. By doing this he also removes his own wife from a position of power and puts his son’s wife in charge of the household.
A year goes by and the new family welcomes a baby daughter. In that year we learn the nature of the offences Ichi committed in the castle to be dismissed from the lord’s court. She was in love with a boy when the order came for her to report to the castle. She agreed to go only if her lover would agree to it. Under pressure from his family and the court, the boy abandoned her and she went to the castle. She was upset with the ease at which the lord could “kidnap” any young woman he wanted and after resisting, she gave in to herself vowing that she would bear the lord many sons so that she would be the last girl pressed into service like this. She would sacrifice herself to save other girls. After bearing the Daimyo her first son, she was ordered to a spa to recuperate. When she returned a new woman was in her place and her sacrifice meant nothing. She attacked the woman and even scratched the Daimyo. With this story, the family becomes even more attached to her.
Terrible news comes from the capital. The lord’s heir has fallen and died. This puts Ichi’s son into position as the direct heir. Word comes from the lord that all is forgiven and that Ichi is to return to live in the castle as mother to the lord’s heir. The family refuses to allow her to be torn from her husband and new daughter like this. In direct defiance to the Daimyo’s orders, they take their stand and prepare for battle. In a trick, the younger brother delivers Ichi to the castle and he returns with a nurse-maid for the baby. Isaburo is told that he is to write a request to the lord asking him to take Ichi back in to the castle, just to make things official. It is now clear to them that the lord’s behavior is not only wrong but also illegal. He writes the letter but it is an indictment and a request for Ichi to return home. The lord is incensed and sends troops to compel Isaburo and Yogoro to write the proper request. The lord sends Ichi along with the troops to have her plead for her family to comply with the lord’s wishes. When confronted by the troops, Ichi sees no way out of the situation but to kill herself. She impales herself on the spear of one of the soldiers and in the battle Yogoro also dies. Isaburo gathers his grand-daughter and hits the road headed for Edo to tell the Emperor of the cruelty of his clan’s Daimyo. At the border he is confronted by his old friend, still on duty as a guard. He can not allow Isaburo to pass. Isaburo says that he will pass or die trying. The two old friends agree that they must duel to the death as there is no other honorable way to resolve this conflict. They walk out to the field where they both comfort and feed the baby. Isaburo appoints his friend as guardian of the child should he lose in the duel. They agree that it is time and they draw swords. In the duel, the friend dies and in his final breath he tells Isaburo that there was no way he could have won this duel with a clear conscience.
Isaburo starts to walk back to the baby and is shot by the troops that have shown up during the duel. He gets back up and stumbles to the baby. He is shot many times crawling toward the baby and dies crying out the baby’s name just feet from her. The final scene is the nurse-maid picking the baby out of the grass and walking away from the border gate back toward home.
The acting in this film was more traditional Japanese acting. I’m not saying they were all Noh Theatre types, just that the expected archetypes were noticeably missing. I waited for it but Mifune never scratched his chest or head even once. I guess that’s what I get for narrowing my scope to just the few Japanese directors I know. This opened my eyes to a wonderful story and some fantastic scenes. I look forward to seeing more films by Kobayashi.
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