Ran

I just finished watching Akira Kurosawa's Ran. It's made based on Shakespeare's King Lear as well as the Three Arrows, a story from a well known samurai lord from the 16th century. He had taught his three sons to stay close, that three arrows will not break together while one can easily break.

Ran is basically a tragedy with a strong war lord succeeding his throne to his sons (and unlike the historical figure, not all of his three sons are good), and the sons and surrounding characters for their respective reasons end up fighting each other and destroying everything. In the end, nothing remains other than the miserable and the weak.

It was Japan's most expensive movie produced back then, with very famous national treasures as the film location, including the Himeiji and Kumamoto Castle. As Kurosawa said that he put in everything he has, indeed it is really powerful, and has such a clear message to mankind. Bravo.

Photo credit: Akira Kurosawa