High and Low (Tengoku to jigoku)

A glimpse of heaven and hell

Image Courtesy: albany.edu

“High and Low” is the English title given to the great Akira Kurosawa’s 1963 film “Tengoku to jigoku” which when translated literally means “Heaven and Earth”. After watching the movie I felt that the Japanese title is more apt for the movie than its English one. Kurosawa showcases the conflicts between the haves and have-nots.

The plot opens with a business executive Kingo Gondo, played by the Kurosawa’s long time muse Toshiro Mifune, engaged in a takeover meeting with his other fellow board of directors of the National Shoe Company. The other directors want Gondo to join them in taking over the company from the hands of the owner referred to as “The old man”. They are not happy with the old man’s way running the business as they want to mass produce low quality cheap shoes. However Gondo is not inclined to do so and want to take the company forward in a totally different direction. He wants to produce good quality modern shoes. The other directors threaten to get him thrown out of the company.

What the directors do not know is that Gondo is on the verge of finalizing a deal that would make him the single largest share holder of the company. To do that, he has put his entire life’s earnings on the line. However just as he is about to settle the deal he gets a phone call where the caller claims to have kidnapped his son. Gondo is horrified and is willing to pay any amount to save his son. But soon he as well as the kidnapper realizes that there has been a mistake and the boy kidnapped is in fact his chauffeur’s son.

Image Courtesy: taoyue.com

From then on Gondo’s attitude completely changes. While earlier he was unwilling to get the police involved now the first thing that does is to inform them and get them actively involved in the case. He also doesn’t want to pay the money to save someone else’s life. Especially when he knows that he and his family would be financially ruined if he pays the ransom. But Gondo is raked by the pain and sorrow of the boy’s father. He is raked by guilt whenever he sees the boy’s father trying to plead with him to save his son. Gondo is not even able to look into the chaffeur’s eyes. But Gondo doesn’t have much time to decide as he has to make his decision the next day.

High and Low is one of the master’s experiments with narrative. The movie is clearly split into two halves. The first half is all about Gondo’s moral dilemma and his struggle to cling on to both his future as well as his humanity. He knows that he will have to let go of one of them. The second half however deals completely with the police investigation into the case to bring the mastermind to justice. If the first half is a crime thriller which asks pertinent moral questions off the individual, the second half is a detective movie which asks the same questions about the society. Both these halves or acts are interlinked by a train sequence which serves as a bridge between the two worlds.

Without a doubt however the best part of the movie is the first part. Kurosawa masterfully creates the required tension and anxiety in us about the boy’s fate. This keeps us engaged with the whole drama that unfolds from the moment the boy is kidnapped. We feel the chauffeur’s pain. We admire the detective’s professionalism. Above we identify with Gondo’s struggle with himself and his values.

Image Courtesy:taoyue.com

The second half though is not as engaging. You sometimes feel that the movie loses its pace at critical points. The investigation is very realistic giving us an insight into a proper police investigation rather than some fancy detective work. Some might say that it is a bit too realistic. It is shredded of the dramatics and the intelligence that is required to keep an investigation engaging in a movie. Kurosawa attempts to make it as matter of fact as possible.

High and Low shows us another facet of Toshiro Mifune’s acting. He shows his versatility in this movie. Gone are the eccentric and loud mannerisms of his characters of Seven Samurai and Rashomon. Neither is the cool heroism of Yojimbo and The Hidden Fortress on display. Mifune’s Gondo is an exhibition in restrain. He looks like a volcano of emotions ready to explode but barely managing to hold back. His mannerisms clearly indicate what he is going through and leaves no one in doubt about his struggles with himself. He conveys his guilt by never looking at the chauffeur all the while saying that he will not pay the money. There are moments when he can’t even stand the presence of the man close to him.

Kurosawa attempts to show a mirror to the society through High and Low. The movie is indeed set in heaven and Hell. The first half takes place entirely in the air conditioned luxurious villa of Gondo which is set on top of a hill. The second half takes place in the outdoors where people are shown in great discomfort due to the heat, constantly wiping their faces and neck off sweat. He takes us through the slums, whorehouses and drug alleys of Tokyo. The movie asks poignant questions with no easy answers on offer.

Image Courtesy: filmreference.com

The movie is a showcase in contrast between the haves and have-nots. He even briefly touches upon the evils of corporatization. But what really makes you think is the climax of the movie when Gondo confronts the mastermind of the crime. The mastermind’s motive was as much a rebellion towards the inequalities of the society as it is a personal vendetta against Gondo, symbolized by his hatred towards Gondo’s house on top of the hill. He is not afraid of going to hell as he says his whole life was hell. But if he were to go to heaven, then he would really tremble. The movie is indeed about life in heaven or hell here on earth itself.

Reviews of Akira Kurosawa's Major works

Akira Kurosawa

Rashomon (1950)

Ikiru (1952)

Seven Samurai (1954)

Hidden Fortress (1958)

Yojimbo (1961)

High And Low (1963)

Red Beard (1965)

Kagemusha (1980)

Ran (1985)

Rhapsody In August (1991)

Yojimbo

A western from the east

Image Courtesy: wikipedia.org

With Yojimbo Akira Kurosawa takes a classic western, transports it to 1860 Japan and transforms the gunslinger into a sword wielding Ronin (a master less samurai), taking the genre to unparalleled heights. At the same time he does not lose focus from the primary purpose of a movie; that is to tell a good story.

The movie starts off like any other western you might have seen. The dust blowing through what seems like a ghost town, the long road which seems to run right through the length of the road and the audience’s view of the lone stranger entering the town all reminds you of a western. The only difference is that instead of cowboy attire the protagonist wears a kimono.

Image Courtesy: students.stedwards.edu

The protagonist’s real name is never known to us. He takes the name of the first plant he lays his eyes on in the town. He says his surname is Sanjuro which means thirty. What hits you in this movie though is its dark humor and violence. During the opening sequence itself we see a dog running across Sanjuro with a human hand, while he is just about to enter the town. This shot gives both Sanjuro and us a foreboding sense of violence in this quiet town. And for all the humor in this movie, Kurosawa doesn’t shy away from showing the violence in very vivid detail for the time it was shot in.

Sanjuro enters the town and quickly learns that the town is controlled by two rival gangs. One of the gangs is led by the local silk merchant while the other is controlled by a sake merchant. The gangs are often involved in bloody fights against one another. And the town is in ruins. The only person making a good living here is the undertaker. The gangsters are aided by corrupt officials. One of them, a constable, actually convinces Sanjuro that the only way to survive in this town is to join forces with either of the two gangs. He even goes on to introduce Sanjuro to one of the gangs and collects a commission for his efforts too.

Image Courtesy: filmreference.com

But Sanjuro is a crafty fellow and is more intelligent than the towns people realize. He decides to play both sides and gets himself employed in the services of the both gangs. Things go on fine until the fighting escalates between the rival gangs. Even the undertaker is jobless now, because he says that when there are so many dead no one bothers with a coffin anymore. This line is typical of the dark humor that is prevalent throughout the movie.

Sanjuro’s contentment however doesn’t last long. He is not able to suppress his sympathy for a woman kidnapped by one of the gangs. The humaneness in his heart takes over when he decides to free the woman and reunite her with her child and husband. From then on Sanjuro’s faces a battle of survival and how he ultimately succeeds in wiping out both the gangs forms the rest of the movie.

Image Courtesy: wikipedia.org

Toshiro Mifune is unparalleled as the lone Ronin. His swagger and his toothpick chewing in your face attitude give life to a character that could so easily have been played as an unconvincing superman. His subtlety and restrain is superb, and makes the character easy to identify with, even though it is in no way related to us. His silences and glances speak volumes and gives us an insight into what the character is going through at the moment. Although Clint Eastwood patented the same style in “Fistful of dollars” and other westerns, Mifune took the style to another level altogether.

Sanjuro is not your typical hero either. His motives, almost throughout the movie, are purely selfish. He is a hired sword or mercenary, willing to give his services to the highest bidder; whoever they might be. In the initial sequence he kills of a few gang members with utter nonchalance just to demonstrate his skills. Later on when he sets about to destroy the gang members, it is mostly out of revenge rather than out of a desire to save the town from their grasps. He was brutally assaulted and tortured by the gang members after he had freed the kidnapped woman, the only time he does a selfless act. Kurosawa’s hero is as grey as any you could find and still you end up rooting for him.

Image Courtesy:tyomil.com

That Kurosawa is a master of fight and action sequences was proven beyond doubt in “Seven Samurai”. In Yojimbo though he brings about a ballatic effect to the action sequences amidst its chaos. It leads to the climatic showdown between Sanjuro and the main gang member who has the advantage of a gun on that very long stretch of road right in the middle of the town. Kurasowa’s mastery of filmmaking is further illustrated when we see Sanjuro practicing with a knife by throwing it and pinning down a fluttering leaf. In reality that sequence is shown in reverse. The effect was created by first pinning down the leaf with a knife and then pulling it out with a string.

Yojimbo is not considered as great as some of the master’s other works. It doesn’t appeal to the intellect as Rashomon does nor does it enchant you like Seven Samurai. But still it is one of the best action movies I have seen. Kurosawa does not preach about the moral values and the wit in the movie compliments the violence and vice versa. Yojimbo is in fact more western than many other western movies from Hollywood. I believe it showed Hollywood how a western should be made.

Reviews of Akira Kurosawa's Major works

Akira Kurosawa

Rashomon (1950)

Ikiru (1952)

Seven Samurai (1954)

Hidden Fortress (1958)

Yojimbo (1961)

High And Low (1963)

Red Beard (1965)

Kagemusha (1980)

Ran (1985)

Rhapsody In August (1991)