Scenes from Memory – II

Continued from here.

Sword of Doom [1968]:

Evil mind, evil sword

Arguably the greatest of them Samurai films. ‘Arguably’ because I can never get over Kurosawa’s Samurai creations. But this one’s a bit different. Where those films (most of them anyway) have found sufficient satisfaction in exhibitionism and portraying Samurais as trigger-happy ‘Eastern’ cowboys, Sword of Doom takes a step or two back and establishes thematic proximity to the great ‘The Lone Wolf and Cub’ series by  its relentless examination of the nature of violence and by ruminating on the facets of Bushido.

Death is Coming

 In hindsight, Tatsuya Nakadai’s Ryunosuke Tsukue and Javier Bardem’s Anton Chigurh are similar men. Both sociopaths; lacking compassion, morality and remorse. Where Chigurh’s lack of fear/calculating calm is intimidating, Ryunosuke’s phobias/delusions trigger actions completely random and vicious. Uninhibited  violence, in both these men, seems just an extension of their being.  These are men of action. Let the world bother itself with reasons, justifications, excuses or framing a context around their acts.

That depends. Do you see me?

For instance, the lines of Ryunosuke’s father “…the cruelty doesn’t stop with your sword. It seems to have seeped into your mind and body. It frightens me.”

and

Carson Wells  “Do you know how crazy you are?“

Anton: “As in the nature of this conversation?“

Carson Wells: “As in the nature of you“

 …. are essentially 2 dialogue snippets which convey similar meaning.

Interesting to note, how the respective creators  leave the ending of both these characters undefined.  Ryunosuke, both in this film and in the original series, lives on and on, slaying men after women after men. Ditto with Anton. It is as if, they are not men at all, rather a symbol denoting all that is evil and fearful in men.

Ok.  Sorry.

Long ramble nowhere related to the scene in memory so far.

But it feels good now that I’ve written it.

Sword of Doom, again is a film filled with brilliantly shot scenes(I don’t mind repeating this again, there is something about films shot in stark monochrome. It’s not even rational really … so I don’t have an explanation as to ‘why’ I love B&W. But in my case, B&W films linger in memory a lot longer than the colored ones). Ryunosuke Tsukue’s breathtaking, river-like flowing duel in the narrow passageway by the woods or the ‘fight-in-the-snow’ action sequence by Mifune (which I believe one Mr. Mysskin generously adopts in his film) or the magnificent yet frustratingly abrupt climax – all make for fantastic memories to remember.

But ironically, the film’s best moment is a quieter one.

Young Hyoma is seen practicing hard, well into the night. At daybreak, he is to face Ryunosuke, a master of swordplay and an embodiment of ruthlessness and evil.  It would seem that this was a grossly unfair match. Just then, Hyoma’s master, Toranosuke Shimada (Mifune), enters the room, watches his pupil practice and in a matter-of-fact way says:

‘You can’t sleep because you’re intent on winning. Don’t think about winning or surviving. Be prepared to die . Risk everything and you may have a chance. Now go and lie down with a calm mind‘

 No false hopes, no pat-on-the-backs, no inspirational speeches to violins being played in the background, no Sattar minute gyan.

Just give up thoughts of winning, be calm, be prepared to die and go the fuck to sleep.

They slip in this seemingly innocuous scene between some important moments in the film.  But then the lines, frugal as they are, capture the essence of Bushido. It tells us how much grounded the vision of the creators is. It tells us that magnificence is as much a  product of ‘flights of fantasy’ as it is of simple snippets of truth.

ps: A cursory Google search reveals how underrated and overlooked this film really is.  A sad state of affairs.

pps: Wanted to club in two more movies but enough ramble for a blog post, I guess.

(Hopefully will continue)

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