IMDb plot summary: In medieval Japan, a compassionate governor is sent into exile. His wife and children try to join him, but are separated, and the children grow up amid suffering and oppression.
Directed by Kenji Mizoguchi. Starring Kinuyo Tanaka, Yoshiaki Hanayagi, and Kyôko Kagawa.
Sansho the Bailiff is a Japanese movie about two children of a disgraced former governor who, along with their mother, are kidnapped and sold into slavery. Most of the action happens ten years later, when both the children are grown up and get the first sign that they've had in years that their mother may still be alive on the island where she was sent. Together, the children decide to escape and try to fix things. This is a heartbreaking movie, and all the more so because there's a code, an underlying message of morality and honor being worth it, even when we can't really see how that's going to play out. We see characters, both the young boy and his father, take stances to do what they think is right only to suffer for it. But the message still stands that being that kind of person is worthwhile is valuable, and that lesson somehow hits in a very different way when the movie doesn't really give them a happy ending. There is some catharsis at the end, but there are far more tears and heartbreak. It's a beautifully made film with pieces that I think will stick with me for a long time.
How it entered my Flickchart:
Sansho the Bailiff > Ripley's Game
Sansho the Bailiff > Woman in the Dunes
Sansho the Bailiff < Broadway Danny Rose
Sansho the Bailiff < Colossal
Sansho the Bailiff < Never Rarely Sometimes Always
Sansho the Bailiff > The Blue Angel
Sansho the Bailiff > Cyrano
Sansho the Bailiff > Bolt
Sansho the Bailiff > The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes
Sansho the Bailiff > The Dictator
Sansho the Bailiff > City Lights
Sansho the Bailiff > Kismet
Final spot: #794 out of 3629, or 78%.
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