Dear Internet,
Recreating
a masterpiece is not something easy.
Remaking one from the foundation up is neither so. Even when one has a nearly guaranteed formula,
it does not ensure a well made final product.
Why do I mention all this? It is
because "Throne of Blood," Akira Kurosawa's 1957 dramatic film, is a
transpose of Shakespeare's "Macbeth" to the era of samurai and
warlords. There is no denying that. It took me nearly half the movie to figure
that out, but I was too far along enjoying it to count it against it. This film is one of those rare cases where the
original material is not shred apart to the point where only a chalk outline of
its original nature remains or the original concept feels out of place. "Throne" does not go for a perfect
reproduction of "Macbeth," nor should it. Instead it weaves a tale that could easily be
mistaken for a completely Japanese film with no outside influence.
The story
starts with a foggy featureless mountainside with an eerie song being sung in
the background about the numerous people that have died there. A monument comes into view reading,
"Here stood Spider's Web Castle."
Already the viewer knows that the story occurs sometime in the past and
that the castle has fallen. The subject
is not if the fall of the characters will occur but when they will. The scene changes to the castle in its
heyday. Various messengers on horseback
begin to deliver messages to the lord of the castle telling him of an incoming
attack by a traitorous general, Fujimaki, which has begun to overtake the
various forts that guard the castle.
Quickly other messengers begin to appear telling the lord that two of
his commanders has turned the tide of the battle and defeated the mutinous Fujimaki. The two commanders, Miki and Washizu, are summoned
to the castle but get lost along the way.
They are met by a spirit who predicts that Washizu will be installed as
the Lord of the North Garrison and then the eventual Sovereign of the Spider's
Web Castle and that Miki will become Commander of First Fortress and his son
will be the ruler of Spider's Web Castle.
The spirit disappears and the two find their way to the castle where
they receive the titles that the ghost had predicted they would obtain. From there, the fall of the two begins.
I have
already ahead of myself. First there is
the spirit that meets them in the forest and how the two meet him. Everything about the scene before, during, and
after the spirit are so overwhelmingly reminiscent of a Japanese ghost story
that one would have trouble identifying it as the Three Witches scene from
"Macbeth." Before the two find
the spirit, they are sent to wander the woods while on horseback. When the two men find it, the spirit sings a
spine tingling song while working on a spinning wheel. Compound that with the name of the castle and
forest, you end up with the classic ghost story of a spider making its web. The makeup on the spirit makes it nearly
identical to ukiyo-e and other Japanese wood-block prints. Even the rest of the cast is given makeup to
make them appear as classical drawings. Then
there is the twig hut that the spirit "lives" in, which is only
composed of a skeleton and completely see-through. The technical seen can be seen when the hut disappears
in a long shot while the camera is in the shot.
Piles of skeletons dot the area around the immaterial hut. Afterwards, the two men are allowed back to the
realm of the living, but only after riding through a thick fog for a
while.
All of
this adds up to something ethereal. The spirit
sings of the weaknesses of man and compares them to insects. With the comparison of the spirit to that of
a spider, the song fits. Already the
spirit had captured the two in his physical trap. They were in his parlor whilst trying to get
to the castle. With only a few words, he
was able to ensnare them in his mental trap.
By telling them of the promotions that they were to receive that day,
which had already been decided, the second part of the prophecy would then
become an enticing bait for them. If the
spirit was right about one thing, why would it not be right again? It can be argued that even without the words
of Asaji, Lady Macbeth here, Washizu would still aim for becoming the next
ruler of Spider's Web Castle.
Another
thing that I want to cover is that the entirety of the characters presented and
the scenes presented are like those met in Japanese operas and paintings. I already said that the spirit was a near
photocopy of Japanese folklore descriptions, but the rest of the cast fit this. Each character is given identification that a
stage play would make use of to identify the cast to a large crowd that needs
quick identification, or a painting that uses symbols to distinguish various persons. Washizu and Miki are both introduced wearing
flags on their backs, one a centipede and the other a hare respectively. Not only does this create a quick visual reference
to distinguish the two for the viewer, as would be the same reason on the
battlefield for soldiers, but it also gives an insight into their
personalities. Washizu, mirroring the
actions of Macbeth, slinks and crawls his way to the lordship with a poisonous
bite. Miki is slaughtered helplessly
while never being a threat to Washizu.
Then there is the crown of the lord of the castle. The crown has upon it a crescent that is so
large that you might pull a muscle if you twisted your head too fast while wearing
it. Practicality aside, it acts as a
quick identifier as well as the scepter he wields, which looks more like a fan,
but I digress.
If we
continue down the story, we come across Asaji, Washizu's wife. She is the only true villain of the film, and
how she is a villain. She is not in the
film for ten minutes and she creates more problems than some antagonists do in entire
shows. Give her another ten minutes and
she has turned Washizu's life and moral system utterly upside down. Not only does she plant murderous thoughts in
the heart of her husband about claiming the throne, but she also makes him
believe his childhood friend Miki is planning to betray him. Much of her actions are the same that Lady
Macbeth did in the source play, but here they have some renewed vigor. Kurosawa magnifies the betrayal of the king by
placing Asaji and Washizu in front of a room with the blood of the traitor Fujimaki
adorning the wall, molding and decaying the wooden panels. The viewer and Asaji wait expectantly while
the regicide is committed. To complicate
her character and the reason for Washizu's betrayal is her pregnancy that has a
surprising turn of events later on in the story.
Asaji
is the only named female character in "Throne" that makes an
appearance. There is a midwife and other
females who are not named, as well as the late lord's wife who is neither named
nor shown because she commits suicide off screen. With Asaji being the only female of note,
there is a terrible danger of the film as coming across as misogynistic. Even the witches are changed into a male
spirit. The only argument that the film
is not saying that a woman's tongue is the seed of destruction and dissonance
is the same one that makes it. Again, Asaji
is the only female, not because women are not present in such events and
stories, but because there is little capacity for them in such stories. "Throne" is about war and
politics. It is about commanders of
soldiers rising through the ranks because of conflict. Inserting female roles for the sake of it
would detract from the work unless there was context behind it. Could have the poisoned words that Asaji spouted
have been said by a male subordinate of Washizu? Yes, but Washizu would probably not have
listened to him. Here, the fact that it
was his wife made all the difference. If
anything, "Throne" is a cautionary tale to both genders. It warns men of the softness of their hearts
to their wife's words and cautions wives about the hold they have over their
husbands, for the reason for the betrayal eventually became for naught.
"Throne
of Blood" is a great film to be watched again.
There is something special about how Kurosawa captured the core aspect
of "Macbeth" while not degrading it.
It is a unique film that can be watched without even knowing about "Macbeth,"
and that is what is important. It does
not become some sort of "I spy" game where you spend more time
guessing the reference than watching the film, like "O Brother, Where Art Thou." Instead, it spins a spider's web of deceit
and murder that can chill the marrow by wholly transporting the audience into a
world of spirits and cutthroat subordinates.
Yours in digital,
BeepBoop
P.S. Tomorrow is " .hack//Sign" the animation.
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