Kagemusha (1980)

Kurosawa Akira

Japan

162 min, color, Japanese (English subtitles)

It is a pity that Kurosawa had to come to the United States to find financial support for his film. Rebuffed by the major studios in his homeland, he was lucky to obtain the backing of Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas, his longtime admirers. The commercial success of this film, however, did not help Kurosawa much and even for his next masterpiece, Ran, he had to find foreign (French) help. In fact, in many ways, Kagemusha is a precursor to Ran, something like a dress rehearsal. This may be shortchanging the film a bit, but it is true. Everything that is good about this film would be great in its successor, and everything that was great would be stellar. The two share much, not only because they are extremely stylized period films, but because they are so relentlessly pessimistic.

The story, as usual for Kurosawa, is simplicity itself. It is based upon events during 1570-75, the final stages of the warring states period, when Oda Nobunaga and Tokugawa Ieyasu are busy defeating their last opponents in their quest to unify Japan. Takeda Shingen, the Lord of Kai, is among their most formidable enemies. In 1573, during an attack on a Tokugawa Castle, Shigen is mortally wounded and dies several days later. In early 1575 his son Katsuyori leads the Takeda army against Nobunaga's forces and is wiped out, his traditional battle formation of cavalry and foot-soldiers unable to withstand the obliterating firepower of Nobunaga's solders armed with muskets and barricaded behind stockades that horses cannot jump over.

From these historical events Kurosawa weaves an intriguing story about the period between Shingen's death and the demise of the Takeda clan. Before investing the Tokugawa castle Shingen's brother Nobukado (Yamazaki Tsutomu) shows him a near perfect double, the kagemusha, or shadow warrior (both Shingen and the double played by Nakadai Tatsuya). When Shingen dies, his last will is for his retainers to conceal his death for three years and guard the domain, never leaving it to attack the neighbors. (Coming from the person who had become famous for his ceaseless and mostly fruitless campaigns against his permanent opponent Uyesugi Kenshin, this sounds somewhat strange, but we shall let it go at that. By the way, the scar whose absence leads to the recognition of the double is supposedly acquired at Kawanakajima, the site of the most famous battle between Shingen and Kenshin). The chief retainers decide to use the double to fulfill Shingen's wishes, much to the chagrin of his son Katsuyori (Hagiwara Kenichi).

The double is a common petty thief and at first he is reluctant. In fact, he mocks Shingen's solemnity by calling him a thief and murderer, on a much bigger, bloodier, and more devastating scale. Surprisingly, Shingen agrees with the assessment but then professes a higher purpose for the slaughter that he has caused: The unification of Japan under a single ruler who will impose peace. (That ruler, of course, should be him.) For some reason, the double is swayed by the logic although I did not buy it. The kagemusha impersonates the lord here and there but when he discovers that Shingen is dead, he adamantly refuses to continue, claiming that his debt was to the lord and not anyone else. In exasperation, the retainers decide to let him go because they cannot require him to fill this job. After all, one of them says, they need someone who can die for the Takeda clan, something that the thief who owes them no allegiance, should not be expected to do.

An then the unexpected (and inexplicable) happens: The kagemusha changes his mind. Upon observing the water burial of Shingen in Lake Sowa and overhearing Tokugawa and Oda spies discussing his death, he hurries to the retainers and begs them to allow him to play the role. He is apparently moved by his suddenly perceived duty to the dead lord. (Once this hard swallow is done, the rest of the film flows more smoothly.)

The kagemusha slowly transforms into Shingen. This is the major theme of the film: The connection between illusion and reality, their merging into one. It is not that the double plays the dead lord well, he becomes him, something that even Nobukado never realizes despite having impersonated his brother quite often. The becoming of the double kills him eventually, confirming the validity of the change and its meaning.

It is telling that the horse, the witless animal, is the one that detects the ruse. The grandchild, whose first instinct is correct, is persuaded by logic and even grows to love his fake grandpa. The women, whose intuition tells them something is amiss, allow themselves to be persuaded by the joke skilfully played by the double. Even the close retainers who know very well that he is not the real Shingen are stunned when the double affects one of his mannerisms (stroking his right moustache) and inadvertently change to the official seating position and some weep. The double himself believes he has become The Mountain. Illusion has become reality through faculties that only humans possess. The horse cannot be fooled by what his eyes see, and the charade is over. Only we are capable of constructing an alternate reality, only we are able to tell our eyes what to see and how to see it.

The film is meticulously shot, most of it having been drawn in numerous sketches by Kurosawa years prior to shooting. It is quite abstract and many of the key scenes are unusually aloof in their presentation. For example, the apocalyptical battle at Nagashino is quite stylized. A wave after wave of Takeda cavalry and foot soldiers charge the Oda positions only to be mowed down by the enemy. Yet Kurosawa shows the charge, the firing muskets, and the reaction of the Takeda generals. Only the bloody aftermath is revealed at the end. Much of the drama is thus lost, something that the director would not do again in Ran where the battle sequences are as grisly as they are sweeping.

There is quite a bit of overacting, even by Nakadai, who is usually an excellent actor. This must have been Kurosawa intent, for not only will he recast him again in the lead role for Ran, but Nakadai would overact there as well. Somehow this ends up feeling appropriate for the stylization and it adds a stage-like feel to the drama. It is surely not by accident that Kurosawa has Nobunaga perform a Noh dance when the news of Shingen's funeral reaches him.

There are many spectacular scenes in the film, but one sequence has been indelibly imprinted in my mind. The kagemusha ruse is out, Katsuyori rushes to assume the command of the Takeda clan that he had so long lusted after, the retainers resign themselves to having to follow his rash judgment. While Katsuyori is walking briskly toward the mansion in the pouring rain, in the background the now useless double is led to the gates of the castle. In a single shot Kurosawa conveys the foreboding sense of gloom and pessimism for we know that once the double leaves, the Takeda armies will mindlessly and relentlessly march to their doom.

The anamorphic widescreen British DVD I have is region 2. The picture is quite grainy, which is a huge disappointment for one would think 20th Century Fox could afford a better transfer. Still, it is in the correct aspect ratio which cannot be said for the barbarically pan-scanned domestic VHS release. Until it is released here, we shall have to make do with this DVD. The English subtitles (for the deaf, so they also show sounds) are excellent, which is to be expected since the translation was done by Donald Richie. The sound is average. There are absolutely no extras on the disc, making it less than a steal at $20.

December 30, 2002