Conflagration (film) narrative location Japan
Conflagration (炎上, Enjō) is a 1958 Japanese drama film directed by Kon Ichikawa. It is based on the Yukio Mishima novel The Temple of the Golden Pavilion. Ichikawa named Conflagration as the favourite among his own films.Plot
Goichi, a young Buddhist acolyte, becomes a student at the Golden Pavilion temple, Kyoto. His deceased father's sentiment that the Golden Pavilion is the most beautiful thing in the world is always present in his mind. During a visit, Goichi's mother states the wish that he might one day become the head priest at the temple, which puts him under pressure, as does his inner conflict over the head priest's mundane behaviour, who runs the temple as a tourist attraction and regularly visits a geisha. A flashback (one of many within the entire film's greater structure) to his father's funeral introduces the idea of a cleansing inferno. Goichi sets fire to the pavilion. He is subsequently repudiated by his mother, and ultimately commits suicide during his transfer to prison.