Go, Bid The Soldiers Shoot

Rating: 10/10 (17 November 2019)

Convicted thief Tatsuya Nakadai (Kagemusha) escapes crucifixion by virtue of his extraordinary resemble to Lord Shingen. He becomes the nobleman's double. When Shingen dies, the leaders of the clan keep up the pretense.
Can I usefully say something about one of Akira Kurosawa's masterpieces? In many ways, this seems the most Shakespearean of his movies; even though he made several based on Shakespeare's plays (most notably THRONE OF BLOOD and RAN), freed from the necessity of translation, Kurosawa seems to have borrowed elements that bespeak the plays, from the motivation of the dead Shingen driving the story, to the three spies popping up to comment on the action. Indeed, if this suggests any of Shakespeare's plays, it is HAMLET.
Another point I noticed is that visually, this looks the most painterly of Kurosawa's movies, that most painterly of directors. It opens on ranks of soldiers in the foggy distance, lending an impressionistic air to the proceedings; the dream sequence is on a set that has been painted with a pallette knife; the most realistically shot sequence is the battle Kagemusha incites and must remain an unmoving observer of, the deaths of the soldiers on his conscience.
In the end, this is a formal Greek tragedy, although it obeys no unity of time or space; the sin that is punished is hubris. Kagemusha thinks he can fool everyone, including Shingen's horse and loses what he has come to care for; and those who now rule the domain, think they have won the victories, and can win another.
There are many other things to mention in this movie, even if Kurosawa called it merely "a dress rehearsal for RAN". I will not presume to think I have noticed all of them or am competent to instruct you in them. As always, my comments are meant to let you know my thoughts, hoping they may be of some slight aid to you. In the end, you must decide whether any movie is good, bad or indifferent. All I can do is recommend the occasional one to your attention; I so do with this one.