"
Sansho the Bailiff is a
jidai-geki, or historical film, set in the
Heian period of
feudal Japan. A virtuous governor is banished by a feudal lord to a far-off province. His wife and children are sent to live with her brother. Several years later, the wife, Tamaki (
Kinuyo Tanaka), and children, Zushiō and Anju, journey to his exiled land, but are tricked on the journey by a hypocritical priestess and sold into slavery and prostitution. The mother is sold to
Sado. The children are sold by slave traders to a manorial estate in which slaves are brutalized, working under horrific conditions and are branded whenever they try to escape. The estate, protected under the
Minister of the Right, is administered by the eponymous Sanshō (
Eitarō Shindō), a
bailiff (or
steward). Sanshō's son Tarō (
Akitake Kōno), the second-in-charge, is a much more humane master, and he convinces the two they must survive in the manor before they can escape to find their father."
A classic in Japanese cinema, this film is quite beautiful and interesting to watch. The mise en scene was wonderful as was the framing used. The director casted some remarkable actors that kept me interested from the beginning. I like the underline feminism the director shows in his female characters that rebels what Japanese society was during his time. A common theme in Kenji Mizoguchi films are men that succeed due to the sacrifice of a women. Which reflected the directors actual life, since he was able to become a director thanks to his older sister who was sold to a geisha house.
Anyway this film may not have the happy ending you may want or expect but it is a wonderful piece of cinema any true movie lover will fall in love with.
4/5
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