From the opening shots of Hara-Kiri, where the camera follows the tense actions of a woman whose face is unseen, to the dramatic conclusion, this film is a visual delight. It looks very modern to the eye, with fine alternation of close-ups and tracking shots that keep the action flowing smoothly.As the French wife of a Japanese diplomat, Iribe falls in love with a Japanese prince. The romance moves from beautifully lit interiors to an Alpine ski resort. But traditions and cross-cultural relationships are not easy to manage, to say the least.
3 Reviews
Ethical issue within a timeless peace of theatrical art.
Jakep5028 January 2013
Warning: Spoilers
The movie Hara-Kiri is one of the influential movies that shows the flaws of man and the high demand of one self in the Samurais culture. The main character of the story seems like a failed Samurai who has nothing left but his sword. Well, at least that's how the corrupt house of IYI saw him as. He is a man on a mission who is out for revenge because his family has all been killed or died of sickness and was insulted by the members of the house of IYI. Hanshiro, the main character, has a master plan that will forever shame the house of IYI and when that plan goes through the house coves it up and shamefully does not admit to their wrong doing or the truth about how Hanshiro single handily ashamed the entire clan of IYI. The story shows a conflict in duties to one self. Hanshio was to take care of Jinai son but when the times got rough he cared for his honor, which lead to his failing as a guardian to Motome, because he wouldn't sell his sword as Motome did. Also when the three swords men refuse to be seen by saying that they are sick but really they get their topknot is cut of, is one of the best examples of what people will do to protect their image. The story embodies the ethical flaw of our society which is the human effort to care more about ones image than our internal honor. This story is a story for the ages the ethical questions that are brought up within its deep story line really shows what people are capable of when up against a wall, and what people will do to cover that up. But if it came down to this in your life, what would you do?
The brutality of a society as law.
The_Film_Cricket18 March 2014
Warning: Spoilers
Who has the nerve to question authority? Who has the right to challenge the ancient way of things? Masaki Kobayashi's "Hara-Kiri" is a movie that challenges Japanese authority and tradition in a way that those who follow the Bushido Code might have found gravely offensive. Here is a movie about a samurai warrior who spends nearly the entire story seated before a house counselor and lays out his recent history in a way that, in the end, has completely decimated the very codes under which both men live. The opposing voice, a ragged warrior, says that if they took a look at their own rules – the rules governed by the idea that you give up your life in the pursuit of honor – then they might see how ridiculous the whole thing seems. By getting us inside the social reams and rooting the futility of such social customs from within, we can see the soul-crushing nature of what society demands. The problem, this movie tells us is that there is really nothing that one man can do.
The story told in "Hara-Kiri" could stand for many things. One man stands alone against a cold and unfeeling system that disregards human feeling (or consideration) in the name of tradition and social codes. It could easily take place in modern society. If I could compare it to any other film immediately, it would be Martin Scorsese's "The Age of Innocence," another masterwork about a cold and oppressive society that makes such rigid demands that those who must follow those traditions are nearly sapped of the ability to think for themselves. It's an odd comparison but I think it works. The hero of "Hara-Kiri" (the opposing voice) is Hanshiro Tsgumo, a man who challenges the rigid code of the samurai, while the hero of "The Age of Innocence", Newland Archer, tries to work around the Victorian social code in order to have a happy life. Neither really ends up with what he wants but both, in their own way, bring to light the immobile system under which they are forced to live.
"Hara-Kiri" takes place in 1630 at the beginning of feudal Japan, during a period of peace. Being a warrior without a war, many Samurai are out of work and out of luck. They wander the landscape looking for some way to feed their families. Desperate, they take the only refuge for which they can still hold on to their honor, by committing the ritual of hara-kiri or seppuku, a ceremonial disemboweling that – according the tradition – expunges their sins and allows them to die with honor. They are given a short blade which they insert into their midsection; draw it to the right, opening their bellies. Standing by is a participant called a "second," a man who stands by with his sword drawn, ready to behead the nearly departed. How, exactly, this ceremony is suppose to allow the participant to die with honor is something that remains a mystery (at least to this westerner's eyes) and this may be the film's point.
The focus falls on Hanshiro Tsgumo (Tatsuya Nakadai), a raggedy man called a "ronin" (masterless samurai) who has arrived at the House of Iya requesting a place to perform the suicidal ritual. This is commonplace at the time. At the ritual, the counselor Kageyu (Rentarō Mikuni) warns Tsgumo of the recent events that brought a previous visitor, a man called Chijiiwa (Akira Ishihama), to the house seeking the same request. The man was exposed as a fraud when it was discovered that his sword was made of bamboo. Kageyu suspected that the man was attempting to curry pity with the house counselor, seeking work rather than any serious attempts to commit seppuku. The man was forced to commit the act anyway, dying in agony with the bamboo sword.
Tsgumo seems serious about committing seppuku and requests several different retainers from the house to be his Second, all three of which are unavailable due to illness. What follows is a strange game of logic, in which Tsgumo opens up to Kageyu about the events that brought him to this house; his journey and his connection with Chijiiwa. What surfaces is irrefutable evidence that Kageyu forced Chijiiwa to commit suicide without ever taking into consideration of the events that brought him to this house in the first place. This brings the entire idea of ritual and tradition and honor crashing to the floor, exposing it for the empty and senseless oppression that it is. Much like the CEO of a major company, Kageyu sees his place as standing above Tsgumo, considering the business rather than the individual, and must perform his best P.R. move when it is revealed this his motives, both moral and rational, are completely insane. He'd rather manipulate the situation than admit that he was wrong.
"Hara-Kiri" is bookended by a singular image that means more at the end then it did at the beginning. It is a rather imposing looking suit of armor that stands for the strength and tradition of the Samurai way. It reminds us that the Samurai's traditions are deeply rooted in the past as men seem to worship this image. As the façade of the Bushido Code is exposed as hollow by Tsgumo, we come to understand that it stands for the cold, immobile system under which they are forced to live. During the final moments of the film, Tsgumo seems to be attempting to destroy it as it hangs lifelessly in his arms. Yet, when the film is over, the armor stands back on its post as if Tsgumo's protest never happened. In that way, his entire clever plot came to nothing. With this film, which takes place in the 17th century, and his Human Condition trilogy which takes place in the 1940s, we see that the oppression of the Japanese soldiers would go on and on under the same brutal system for centuries to come.
The story told in "Hara-Kiri" could stand for many things. One man stands alone against a cold and unfeeling system that disregards human feeling (or consideration) in the name of tradition and social codes. It could easily take place in modern society. If I could compare it to any other film immediately, it would be Martin Scorsese's "The Age of Innocence," another masterwork about a cold and oppressive society that makes such rigid demands that those who must follow those traditions are nearly sapped of the ability to think for themselves. It's an odd comparison but I think it works. The hero of "Hara-Kiri" (the opposing voice) is Hanshiro Tsgumo, a man who challenges the rigid code of the samurai, while the hero of "The Age of Innocence", Newland Archer, tries to work around the Victorian social code in order to have a happy life. Neither really ends up with what he wants but both, in their own way, bring to light the immobile system under which they are forced to live.
"Hara-Kiri" takes place in 1630 at the beginning of feudal Japan, during a period of peace. Being a warrior without a war, many Samurai are out of work and out of luck. They wander the landscape looking for some way to feed their families. Desperate, they take the only refuge for which they can still hold on to their honor, by committing the ritual of hara-kiri or seppuku, a ceremonial disemboweling that – according the tradition – expunges their sins and allows them to die with honor. They are given a short blade which they insert into their midsection; draw it to the right, opening their bellies. Standing by is a participant called a "second," a man who stands by with his sword drawn, ready to behead the nearly departed. How, exactly, this ceremony is suppose to allow the participant to die with honor is something that remains a mystery (at least to this westerner's eyes) and this may be the film's point.
The focus falls on Hanshiro Tsgumo (Tatsuya Nakadai), a raggedy man called a "ronin" (masterless samurai) who has arrived at the House of Iya requesting a place to perform the suicidal ritual. This is commonplace at the time. At the ritual, the counselor Kageyu (Rentarō Mikuni) warns Tsgumo of the recent events that brought a previous visitor, a man called Chijiiwa (Akira Ishihama), to the house seeking the same request. The man was exposed as a fraud when it was discovered that his sword was made of bamboo. Kageyu suspected that the man was attempting to curry pity with the house counselor, seeking work rather than any serious attempts to commit seppuku. The man was forced to commit the act anyway, dying in agony with the bamboo sword.
Tsgumo seems serious about committing seppuku and requests several different retainers from the house to be his Second, all three of which are unavailable due to illness. What follows is a strange game of logic, in which Tsgumo opens up to Kageyu about the events that brought him to this house; his journey and his connection with Chijiiwa. What surfaces is irrefutable evidence that Kageyu forced Chijiiwa to commit suicide without ever taking into consideration of the events that brought him to this house in the first place. This brings the entire idea of ritual and tradition and honor crashing to the floor, exposing it for the empty and senseless oppression that it is. Much like the CEO of a major company, Kageyu sees his place as standing above Tsgumo, considering the business rather than the individual, and must perform his best P.R. move when it is revealed this his motives, both moral and rational, are completely insane. He'd rather manipulate the situation than admit that he was wrong.
"Hara-Kiri" is bookended by a singular image that means more at the end then it did at the beginning. It is a rather imposing looking suit of armor that stands for the strength and tradition of the Samurai way. It reminds us that the Samurai's traditions are deeply rooted in the past as men seem to worship this image. As the façade of the Bushido Code is exposed as hollow by Tsgumo, we come to understand that it stands for the cold, immobile system under which they are forced to live. During the final moments of the film, Tsgumo seems to be attempting to destroy it as it hangs lifelessly in his arms. Yet, when the film is over, the armor stands back on its post as if Tsgumo's protest never happened. In that way, his entire clever plot came to nothing. With this film, which takes place in the 17th century, and his Human Condition trilogy which takes place in the 1940s, we see that the oppression of the Japanese soldiers would go on and on under the same brutal system for centuries to come.
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