A Shadow Cannot Exist Without the Man

Rating: Null/10 (3 April 2006)

Kurosawa's beautiful film Kagemusha is a meditation on subjects that have haunted the director throughout his career in cinema: the doppelganger or double, (which brings to question identity and how identity is formed, and where identity is located; is it in appearance, world views, actions, attitudes or loves? How does individual choice create a man? What if one's choices were different?) transformation (all Kurosawa heroes go through a transformation) the tragedy of war (note the elegiac images of horses struggling in death throes in the aftermath of the massacre at the film's conclusion) and despair (Kuroswa has investigated despair as few other filmmakers have...from The Lower Depths and Stray Dog to Ran, many of his films meditate deeply on human hearts without hope).
I cannot help but think that Kagemusha's deep feeling comes from the autobiographical: a man (the thief, played by Tatsuya Nakadai) must assume the role of the Lord (or, why not...they say it in the film..."Tenno"...or Emperor...used to describe Kurosaw himself).
Kuroaswa must have wondered, in his time of financial difficulty, after the dismissal of "Dodes-Kaden", after his suicide attempt, after losing his status, during his struggles to find financing for Kagemusha...he must have thought about what it is to assume a role of great authority, and to be dismissed from the role that gave his life meaning.
Tatsuya Nakadai being ejected forcibly from the castle...retainers throwing clods of mud and stones after him, like a stray dog being pelted and driven from the gates of a house...maybe Kurosawa felt that this is how his life had been. He has said, "I am afraid that me minus movies equals nothing". His identity, so involved in the creation of film, in making his meditations and dreams communicated through the medium of film, and the life that grew up around the creation...the friendships, the experiences, the world of making that makes a world...it must have been horrible for him to realize how fragile and easily shattered that world could be! Federico Fellini once said in an interview that criticism felt somehow impertinent...that his work was a reflection of who he was as a human being, and to judge one's work seemed an insult. I remember this as I think about Kagemusha and the other films of Akira Kurosawa. It is with great humility that I approach my thinking about these films, and would refuse, even if forced, to rank them. That really would be impertinent, and an insult to a life dedicated to the highest good an artist can achieve: an honest look at human experience with the intent of understanding the mysteries of the human heart.