Portrait of Hell
Part portrait of war-torn Feudal Japan and part ghost story, Portrait of Hell will satisfy Japanese film buffs who love epic battle scenes mixed with filmic interpretations of the spiritual drama that accompanies death. Toho Films director Shiro Toyoda, renowned for his literary adaptations of Medieval Japanese tales, turns author Ryunosuke Akutagawa’s (Rashomon) tragedy Jigokuhen into a potent Buddhist moral lesson about human suffering. Filmed in Tehnicolor, rural Japanese landscapes, royal court scenes, and the four seasons during which the film takes place make this movie visually beautiful as a way to infuse the deeply tragic plot with high romance. Set in 10th century Heian province (Kyoto), Yoshihide, Lord Horikawa’s court-appointed painter, vows to experience Hell before portraying it on canvas, as a way to communicate to his corrupt king the poverty and hardship he witnesses in the community. Yoshihide’s paintings of bloody corpse piles representing battle scenes that occur outside the castle cause demons to temporarily haunt Lord Horikawa, but the Lord is so impressed by Yoshihide’s talent that he challenges the painter to paint Hell after his obstinate refusal to paint Paradise. Not until Horikawa kidnaps and enlists Yoshihide’s only daughter, Yoshika, to become his concubine does the artist have fuel enough to unleash Hell upon the Lord. When Horikawa forces Yoshihide to witness his daughter burnt alive, the Lord realizes, with much fear, that the painter will succeed in creating his ultimate masterpiece, a Portrait of Hell in which both Yoshihide and Horikawa are eternally tortured by hubris and regret. More akin to Antigone in its spiritual darkness, Portrait of Hell actually contains little blood and gore, making it a good candidate for squeamish viewers.--Trinie Dalton