Scene Analysis Assignment - Movie Review Example

Here too the director tries to be an unseen observer. The death of a Samurai and the raping of his wife is the core incident of the story. It was woodcutter in the forest who discovers the body of the killed samurai. A priest is also a witness. But during the trial four witnesses including the wood cutter and the priest give different verses of the incident. The film tells us that it is difficult or near impossible to reach the truth, merely through the versions of witnesses, for every one will have his or her perspectives of things and all human memory is clouded by one’s own judgment, perception and ego.

A very interesting scene or sequence of the film is in the beginning where the woodcutter is walking through the forest with his axe slung on his shoulder. The scene is composed of very sensuous movement of the camera, and is of duration of two minutes. It has no dialogue. The scene is a part of a flash back; incidentally the whole film is a flash back. The scene is constructed in 16 shots , of which the wood cutter appears in twelve .There are three prominent close ups--- A present time close up of the face of the wood cutter and past time close up of the hat of the lady raped , hanging on a bush. . During the fifties this was considered to be a taboo in cinematography and the cameraman, Miyagava Kazuo defies this tradition and creates wonderful image on the screen.

Camera looking direct to the sun may be common in films today. But during those days the belief had it that the sun rays entering direct into the lens would burn the film in the camera. But here the shot direct into the sun gives the viewer the mis-en-scene experience of the camera, or the viewer himself entering into the heart of the forest. He himself is entering the forest along with the camera. It leads the viewer into the light and shadow world of the forest where the human mind can lose its way.

This shot and the whole scene was often cited as one of the most remarkable camera work in black and white cinematography. The movement of the object in front of the camera creates the mental mood of the scene. In this scene of the twelve shots in which the wood cutter appears, in shots 13 and 15 the wood cutter moves right to left of the camera, in shots 2, 4, 5 and 9 he moves left to right of the camera; in shots 3 and 16 he moves towards the camera and in shots 8 and 14 he moves away from the camera.

The shot 11 is much more complicated as far the movement of the object with in the frame is concerned. Here the woodcutter moves left to right and then right to left .In shot 6 he moves first left to right and then towards the camera and finally away from the camera. Here Kurosawa creates a sort of a complex rhythmic montage, which concentrates on the contradiction of the movements with in the frame. This choreography of the movements of the character in front of the camera creates a feeling that he is walking wayward as if getting trapped some where.

It symbolizes the fact that he is getting