Saying that Akira Kurosawa was a master at filmmaking is like saying salt is good on french fries. It's a given at this point. That won't stop me from writing about one of my favorite aspects of his films though, how he ends them. The final shot of a Kurosawa film is often heartbreaking and powerful. They somehow manage to perfectly encapsulate how these films end and all the emotions that comes with that. To demonstrate this, I want to talk about the ending shots of Seven Samurai and Ran.
Beginning with Seven Samurai, the film focuses on a village beset by bandits. Knowing they will not be able to survive another attack, two men from the village go to plead for the help of some wandering samurai. They eventually find them and the rest of the film takes place over the multiple days of these samurai defending the village. I am cutting out a lot because this whole film is over three hours long but throughout the battle, four of the seven end up falling. The final shot is a long, steady shot of the graves of the fallen. Four graves on top of a hill, each with a sword sticking out of it.
This shot is beautiful in its simplicity. It is quiet, and the length combined with the stillness of the camera compels you to think about those who died. Each mound on this hillside was someone who sacrificed their life for this village. And this final shot makes you consider that. Leaves you with nothing to do but consider that. Violence is used with great thought and intentionality throughout the film, at no point is there a random fight scene to keep you interested like a modern action movie. No, instead we bare witness to every death and the toll they inflict. The films chooses to end by showing us that loss and letting us reflect. Highlighting the tragedy with it's stillness.
Kurosawa ends Ran in a similar way. By highlighting tragedy. Ran is Kurosawa's retelling of Shakespeare's King Lear, the tale of a king who splits his kingdom between his three sons and is eventually killed because of the war his sons wage against both him and each other. It is a story full of individual tragedies with most of the main cast meeting an early death due to the machinations of a few. Kurosawa manages to emphasize this perfectly with one final shot.
Watch it here
The final shot of the film consists of one character, Tsurumaru. The blind brother to the ex-wife of one of the main brothers. His sister has just been killed, as have most of our main cast. Kurosawa chooses to leave the audience on this shot of Tsurumaru standing alone atop a cliff. He stumbles, calls out for his sister who promised she would be back. And the camera pulls away. Leaving him as a smaller and smaller silhouette in the distance. He is left completely alone because of the machinations of a few powerful men. Ran chooses to end itself by emphasizing both the personal tragedy of Tsurumaru and, by pulling back the camera to show the desolate and empty land surrounding him, the greater tragedy that these men have brought. Once again leaving the audience to stare upon the ravages of a pointless war and feel them. After everything, all that is left are the lonely and the dead.
You took on Kurosawa! Brilliant films, and amazing shots. I love their sublime simplicity. Great post!
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