Sanshō Dayũ (Sansho the Bailiff)

One of the most beautiful but tragic films I have seen, "Sansho the Bailiff" explores the injustice and harsh realities that many people endured during the dark ages of Japan. It was directed by Kenji Mizoguchi, one of Japanese cinema's great big three. 

It tells the story of a family torn apart in Feudal Japan. It starts with Tamaki (Kinuyo Tanaka), the wife of Taira (Masao Shimizu) a district administrator who is traveling with her 2 children and servant. Tamaki's husband got in trouble with a feudal lord who banished him years ago, now Tamaki and her brood have been on a long journey to join him. 

One night they built a shelter in the forest but was deceived by a would be priestess, it was hard to watch as the slave traders through sheer force of violence separate Tamaki and her servant with her 2 children. The children are then sold to Sansho (Eitaro Shindo), an administrator of sorts who is in charge of a manorial estate full of slaves. The slaves are treated harshly and are even branded on the head if they try to escape. Years would pass and the children Zushio (Yoshiaki Hanayagi) and Anju (Kyoko Kagawa) now grown up would learn to work and survive in the slave camp.  

"And you thought it was about this guy."

Even with all the years that have passed Anju is still hoping to reunite with their parents but Zushio has grown cold and heartless becoming the right hand man of Sansho himself. Anju hears a song from a new slave girl who mentions her and Zushio in the lyrics, this renewed their desire to escape and find their parents but Zushio believes that this is futile because of the situation they are in. Even with seemingly hopeless odds they find a way to escape when Zushio is asked to leave an old sick woman on the wilderness. Perhaps seeing this as they're only chance of escaping he asks Anju to escape with him but she asks to be left behind instead to distract the guards. 

 Zushio promises that he will return for her but Anju making the ultimate sacrifice drowns herself to distract the pursuers, Zushio finds refuge with Sansho's son Taro who mentored them in their early days at the slave camp. Taro writes a letter to help in Zushio's quest to go to Kyoto to protest the treatment of slaves in the camp and to a lesser extent restore their family title. Zushio then appointed governor goes back to the province of Tango and abolishes the slave camp but not without a price as he finds out that Anju has taken her life the same day they escaped. 

He quickly relinquishes his newfound title and goes on a quest to find his mother. After hearing that his mother was taken as a prostitute and was supposed to have died, he still continued his search only to find Tamaki blind and in poverty living on a distant island in a beach singing the songs she made for her lost children. 

This film I must say is truly one of a kind that only a master like Mizoguchi can make, a simple story yet truly powerful in both it's story and meaning. I tried to find faults in the film but I could not because it was just so beautifully made. The haunting cinematography alone is worth it, watching "Sanshō Dayũ" is like watching the most beautiful but tragic fairy tale unfold before our eyes like ghosts of years past. His telling of the story is also brutal and without mercy, but the saint like virtue of characters like Tamaki and Anju still makes us believe not in tragedy but hope of a better tomorrow for them.

Mizoguchi was able to seamlessly pass through the flashbacks without showing a single hint of tragedy that will unfold on the main characters. 

Kinuyo Tanaka who played Tamaki was brilliant, I thought of my mother every time she would sing her song and call out her children's names. She's like a beautiful living ghost, haunting but beautiful and I can't even describe what it would have felt being on her situation but I'm sure a person with less faith would have given up against all odds. Masao Shimizu who played perhaps the best father in the world was also magnificent in making the most of his brief screen time. Even though he only appeared on a few scenes nothing was lost in capturing the essence of the morals he was trying to preach to his family. The dutiful son Zushio was able to become a real man when he followed his father's words, his sister did not die in vain in her sacrifice. The reunion of mother and son did not produce water falls right away, Mizoguchi knew that it's not just about making the heart cry but showing the audience that apart from all the pain that the world has caused to this family they are now at peace spiritually not only with themselves but also with the living world. There are few films that literally killed me and almost broke my heart, but maybe the only film that can equal this for me is "The Grapes of Wrath" but I can honestly say this film is in a league of it's own. A genuine masterpiece. 

Grade: A+