Before viewing this film I had never seen a film by Kihachi Okamoto. Aside from the brief synopsis on the DVD case I didn't know anything about this film. It was about a rouge samurai, it was violent and gritty, and it stars Toshirô Mifune; these three aspects attracted me to this film in some way or another. But what I got was far more than just a straight swordplay flick, it also had a spiritual message threaded amongst the action. But before I get into the themes of this film let's take a brief look at its torrid history first.
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I'm too scared to say anything, this
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The Sword of Doom started life as a newspaper serial in 1913 by author Kaizan Nakazato. The popular story continued for over 30 years, the death of Nakazato would see the work unfinished. From the serials came the extremely lengthy novel Daibosatsu Tôge, which proved a popular publication and has, since 1935, been adapted into a stage play and five different films. Because of the book's length the story could simply not fit within the confines of a single film so it was broken up either into two parts or a trilogy. In the 1960's Kihachi Okamoto was set to re-adapt the classic novel for what would be the fifth film incarnation, this time as a swordplay trilogy, which unfortunately never materialised. Only the first chapter was completed. While it's a shame that the later chapters were never filmed what we have here is a classic samurai genre film nonetheless. The Sword of Doom tells the story of Ryunosuke (Tatsuya Nakadai) an evil-hearted samurai with an unusual fighting style that draws his opponents in. He fights without remorse, mercy, or compassion. Ryunosuke has been matched to fight Bunnojo Utsuki (Ichirô Nakaya) at his fencing school. Utsuki is no match for the highly skilled Ryunosuke so his wife Ohama (Michiyo Aratama) meets with Ryunosuke under the guise of being Utsuki's sister (to save face perhaps) and begs for him to let Utsuki win the fight and, in return, offers her chastity. Her chastity taken, Utsuki learns of his wife's infidelity and divorces her. The match is no longer a friendly exhibition fight but is seen as a duel, during which Utsuki uses an illegal move to attack Ryunosuke, who delivers a fatal blow to his opponent’s head.
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Movie poster art just isn't the same
anymore. |
Disputed by Utsuki's friends, they confront Ryunosuke who slaughters them all and takes on Utsuki's widow as his own as she has nowhere else to go. Over time Ryunosuke changes his name and joins another school, meanwhile Utsuki's brother Hyoma (Yuzo Kayama) is given his blessing from Ryunosuke's old master to find him and kill him. Having pursued Ryunosuke to his new school, Hyoma arranges a meeting with master Shimada (Toshirô Mifune) and reveals to him his newest student's true identity; that he is in fact Ryunosuke an evil force that has to be destroyed. Shimada trains Hyoma in secret to prepare for his battle with Ryunosuke that will avenge the death of his brother. I think that the incompletion of this film series has led to many different interpretations of the character and story presented. There are those familiar with the original source material (the book) and those that are not. I had not previously read the novel, nor did I know anything about this film's history before watching it, so there was a great deal of research to undertake before committing a word to this review. Geoffrey O'Brien's essay included in the DVD liner notes was a good start, but further digging on the internet really helped me gain a good grasp of the much beloved material.
There are two popular interpretations of this film, and most notably the character Ryunosuke. The first presumes that he is a truly evil monster driven by hate, the more his blade is stained with blood the deeper into madness he delves. Just by studying Tatsuya Nakadai's haunting portrayal of Ryunosuke will add credibility to this theory. Looking into those seemingly empty black eyes as he strikes down his victims gives us an insight into the character, he truly enjoys the kill. The other popular interpretation is that he is an angel providing relief for those that wish to die. If you look closely at all the victims of Ryunosuke's blade they all either asked for death or deserved it. The old man on the mountain prayed to Buddha for death and Ryunosuke delivered the blow. Utsuki's illegal move in their match was a deliberate attempt to kill Ryunosuke and his kill was a defensive one, Ohama tried to kill Ryunosuke in his sleep and she got what she deserved, and so on. So is he a monster or is he an angel?
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| Somebody say something. |
To be perfectly honest I don't think it's that simple to define, the film certainly doesn't have a clear cut explanation. Perhaps additional insight would have been learned had the film trilogy been completed. I tried to approach this by looking at the film as a single stand-alone story and not as a part of an incomplete trilogy and my conclusion is that it's really open-ended enough for the viewer to decide for themselves. One thing is for sure, Ryunosuke’s descent into madness is a result of his lust for the kill, it seems clear that he cherishes the kill but his fighting style never allows himself to attack but to draw his opponent in. Perhaps it was his own fighting discipline that drew him closer and closer into insanity? The performances are nothing short of brilliant, while the entire cast here gives memorable performances, it is Nakadai's unsettling turn as Ryunosuke that is the true star of this film. Watching him onscreen is both a delight and terror to behold. The black and white photography by Hiroshi Murai is both beautiful and haunting, and combined with Masaru Satô's score adds to the atmosphere Okamoto was trying to create, and heightens the overall feel of the piece. One shot in particular that remains in my mind is the wide shot of Ryunosuke standing solitary amongst the bodies of Utsuki's friends he's just slaughtered. There is a kind of nightmarish elegance to the film that compliments Ryunosuke's turbulent state of mind.
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