Ran

Akira Kurosawa does Shakespeare's King Lear

Did I mention that I like Akira Kurosawa as a director? Well, guess what, I do, and he has had a very long career, so lots of movies from him. This however, is only his second dealing with Shakespeare, the other was Macbeth I think.



In short, we have a Japanese warlord Hidetori Ichimonji whom is getting on in the years and decides it is time to retire. Since he has three sons he decides to split his empire among the three of them. The eldest Taro and the middle son Jiro are all in favour of this and promise to look after him in his old age.

The youngest son, Saburo (probably the smartest) disagrees and believes that they would fight over the kingdom with each other for complete control. His father is still the king and disagreeing with your king can have its consequences, it does, Saburo is banished from the kingdom.

Soon after the power is handed over to the two remaining sons they begin to fight each other for complete control, and break their promise to their father. Each of the sons including Saburo has amassed a sizeable army and war breaks out. The question is can Saburo overthrown his two elder brothers to rule the kingdom and support his father in his old age?

As with a lot of Akira Kurosawa he doesn't feel the need to limit the file to "two" hours, this one is closer to three. The cinematography is also excellent and is as I have come to expect from Kurosawa. This movie is well worth the subtitles.