Kurosawa does Shakespeare, Samurai style.

Rating: 9/10 (1 November 2003)

This is an excellent tragedy, clearly based on Shakespeare's magnificent plot to King Lear. In this case, the love of the youngest son rather than daughter is doubted by the father and this fatal blindness to genuine love over flattery lead to a bloody civil war that Kurosawa depicts with stunning realism. The subplots of betrayal by the eldest brother's wife also rings true and creates even more of a feeling of the hopelessness of human relations in the midst of a power struggle.