Compared with Macbeth, one of Shakespeare's four tragedies in the original book, the movie "Spider's Nest City" knows relatively less people. Filmed in 1956 and released on January 15, 1957, this Japanese costume drama film directed by the famous Japanese director Akira Kurosawa and starring Toshiro Mifune and Isuzu Yamada is adapted from Macbeth, grafting the story of Western medieval Europe in Japan's Sengoku period, and perfectly integrating Shakespeare's Western world with Japan's Oriental culture.
Although "Spider's Nest City" is an adaptation of the film, it has a different era background, folk culture, and Kurosawa's own unique film style. British film critic Roger Manwell described it as "a metamorphosis, a distillation of Macbeth's themes, not an adaptation." It is a unique attempt, the work of a true filmmaker. So whether you've seen Macbeth or not, it's worth watching Spider's Nest City again and admiring Akira Kurosawa's unique shooting skills and different ideas.
The main plot of "Spider's Nest City" is based on the endless desires of human beings, telling the story of a samurai Vulture who is appreciated by the city lord and inadvertently obtains a witch's prophecy, and from then on, he goes to the story of killing the king, killing friends, and finally rebelling. The storyline is not complicated, and there is a bit of a cheesy feeling, but under the interpretation of Akira Kurosawa, the simple plot hits people's hearts and feels the horror of being eroded by desire.
Akira Kurosawa's films often contain criticisms of humanity and the spirit of Bushido, as are "Chaos", "Seven Samurai", "Heart Stick", and "Tsubaki Sanjuro". This article will appreciate the film from three parts: Vulture's loss of self due to desire; the analysis of the symbolic meaning of witches and Asagusa; the critique of human nature and the spirit of Bushido; and the embodiment of the perfect combination of Japanese "Noh" culture and film.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" >01 From the sympathy between loyal generals to the betrayal of the emperor and the family of Tuyou, Vulture's continuous fall in the abyss of desire runs through the main line of the whole play</h1>
As a "royal" samurai of Akira Kurosawa, Toshiro Mifune perfectly interprets The Transformation of Hatsuzu in Spider's Nest Castle, embodying in him the tragedy of succumbing to desire. In addition to the protagonist's change of thought, the whole movie immerses people in a sad feeling in the rendering of the environment and atmosphere, just like the feeling when falling into the abyss, in order to set off the main line spirit of the movie.
1. Hatsuzu's transformation stemmed from his inner desire for power
As a great general, Vulture returned to the city full of joy after winning the battle in anticipation of the upcoming reward, but because on the way back from the victorious battle, he was lost in the forest and met a witch, and was told that he would become the lord of the city, and the son of his friend would also become the lord of the city. The illusory prophecy aroused the deepest desire in his heart, especially the reward he received was consistent with the witch's prophecy, and it made his desire to become the lord of the city reach the peak, and finally went to the road of seizing power with the help of his wife.
After successfully obtaining the position of lord of the city, he believed in the witch's prophecy even more, and the childless man still had a little good thought, wanting to pass on his friend's son to his name, and then pass it on to him, which also conformed to the witch's prophecy, but because his wife suddenly became pregnant, the selfishness of human nature was once again revealed. Not only did he terminate the succession, but he also sent people to slaughter his friend's entire family to avoid the consequences.
At first, Vulture was a heroic general, and indeed wanted to be loyal to the king and love the city and serve the city lord, but because of the witch's prophecy, he began to take him on the road of pursuing power. It is not so much that the witch's prophecy is at work, but it is better to say that Vulture's heart has long been implied by victory.
The witch's prophecy can be taken as a joke, laughed through, or taken seriously, that is, to become vulture. Sometimes the different endings of life lie in a momentary choice, which is also a test of human nature. Vulture, on the other hand, had clearly failed to withstand this test, and his tragedy had been predestined from the moment he chose to believe in witches.
2. The creation of details is a reflection of Vulture's inner world
In addition to using the development of the main plot of the film to show that human nature succumbs to the abyss of endless desire, Kurosawa also intersects with the transformation and ending of Vulture in the creation of the detailed environment.
Wagyu rode back to the city and got lost in the forest with his friends. The intricate forest routes, the men and horses running back and forth in the woods, and the fog that thickly makes people confused, all suggest that Vulture will be lost in desire.
At the beginning of the film, the meeting with the witch, and at the end of the film, the ballad alludes to the devouring of human nature by the desire for power: "Human desires, like a fierce battlefield, will never change, whether ancient or modern." "There are many ugliness in the world, and they are born in the world, and they are as lowly as ants, and they are still secretly born." Why bother with yourself, how stupid. Life is like a flower, coming and going in a hurry. In the end, it must also be transformed into a rotten flesh skeleton..." "Look at the ruins of the ambition full of desire, wandering ghosts" can be described as the opening point, the beginning and the end respond, close to the theme, the music is also full of sad feelings, full of lamentation about the loss of human nature.
When Vulture meets a friend and a witch, the witch is surrounded by a pile of white bones, which also symbolizes that succumbing to desire can only lead to destruction.
The film can be said that every detail has Kurosawa's careful design, always vigilant to the world, how sad the human beings who are devoured by desire are, and confirm the main tone of Shakespeare's tragedy.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" >02 The witch and her wife are the key to Vulture's transformation, important characters that drive the plot, but all have a symbolic meaning that is detached from the character itself</h1>
1. Witch: A figurative representation of desire
The witch can be said to be the key to the whole film, and it is precisely because of her appearance that she leads to the transformation of Vulture, and she is more like a demon who lures people to the abyss of desire. She predicted that Hatsuzu would become the guardian of Kitanjin in this victory, and sure enough, the prophecy came true, giving a "sugar of desire" to let Hatsu taste the sweetness, just like chasing more rights.
As to whether the witch really exists, or whether it is just an excuse made up by Vulture's fantasies and for his rights, it is up to the audience to judge for themselves.
For Vulture, The Success is also a witch, and the defeat is also a witch. At the time of the siege, he gave the witch's prophecy that he would become the lord of the city, and he would not fail unless the forest would move, the forest could not move, so he could not fail, and encouraged the soldiers. However, when the opponent moved forward concealed with a branch in his hand, looking like a moving forest from a distance, his men saw this scene and remembered the witch's prophecy, and the psychological defense line collapsed in an instant, and they were defeated without a fight, and even shot Vulture with an arrow to save themselves.
2. Wife Asagusa: The "servant" of desire lurking around Vulture
As Vulture's wife, she herself has long been trapped in the abyss of desire and cannot extricate herself, but due to the obstacles of reality, she cannot get everything she wants in her heart. After hearing Vulture's witch prophecy, she began to constantly instigate and seduce Vulture and kill her friends for power, thus satisfying her own desires.
If at the beginning, Vulture still had a little bit of humanity, unwilling to betray the city lord and hurt his friends, then the witch and his wife Asagusa were the key to his transformation, and even when he killed the city lord, it was Asakusa who handed him a weapon to help him clean up the aftermath and help him go farther and farther on the road of chasing desire until he perished.
At the same time, Asagiri also has human characteristics, and completely "demon", so at the end of the play, the child is stillborn, stimulating her nerves, feeling that all this is like retribution, so she is crazy, does not stop washing her hands with water, feels that how can not be washed, it is stained with blood and a strong smell of blood, although Kurosawa Akira did not pay too much ink in this piece, but with the form of interspersed narration, let the audience see that greed will not let go of any one person, "greed" will pay a price, and even trigger the audience's association, Whether stillbirth is also a form of retribution.
Whether it is a witch or a Asagiri, in the play, Kurosawa Akira gives the representative meaning of desire, constantly luring and guiding Hatsu to the abyss of desire, and eventually to extinction. At the end of the movie, it is not actually indicated who sits on the city lord, Kurosawa Akira gave an open ending, so whether the witch prophesied whether the son of Vulture's friend was correct to become the lord of the city, and the audience also deduced by themselves, "There are a thousand Hamlets in the eyes of a thousand people", so in the eyes of different people, there will be different interpretations of this, causing different life thoughts.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" >03 Criticism of human nature and the spirit of Bushido, and the integration of "Noh" culture is the ultimate pursuit of the details of Kurosawa's films, and it is also the development and dissemination of national culture
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Akira Kurosawa's films do not put wonderful mirrors, compositions or plots on the surface, but incorporate a lot of critical ideas and promote Japanese national culture.
1. The film's critique of human nature and the spirit of Bushido
The criticism of human nature in the film is the main line, in fact, a detailed history, whether it is Macbeth or Vulture, similar things are innumerable, power, money has always been the eternal desire of human beings, the so-called "man for money to die, birds for food death." Shakespeare's greatness, the four tragedies, are actually the root cause of his deep understanding of human nature, incomparably meticulous, and direct to the portrayal of people's hearts, which resonates.
Akira Kurosawa moved this portrayal to the screen, so that the philosophy that everyone understood from the text was more intuitive and shocking with the characters and pictures. Let everyone see that whether in Europe or Japan, the darkness and inferiority of human nature are unchanged through the ages, it can be said that as long as there are human beings will continue, the only thing we can do is to try to avoid becoming such a person, after all, behind the desire is destruction, which is also the meaning of "Spider's Nest City".
On the other hand, in Japan, samurai symbolize all the good qualities of loyalty, duty, faithfulness, martial arts, honor, and so on, but Hatsu, as a samurai, has committed acts of betraying the lord and friends of the city, which is completely contrary to his samurai status. And there may be many high-ranking samurai like Vulture, and such a city lord deserves everyone's follow-up and respect? It can be said that it is a satire on the spirit of Bushido in the upper class of Japan, but it is in stark contrast to the two Thirty Langs like "Tsubaki Sanjuro" and "Heart Stick", who know how to uphold justice for the common people and resist oppression.
If Kurosawa's films are connected into a series, they can always understand the connection between different films, and Kurosawa's criticism of the hypocritical Bushido spirit, as well as the sympathy and encouragement given to the people at the bottom.
2. The integration of "Noh" culture is Akira Kurosawa's inheritance and development of traditional Japanese folklore
In addition to the criticism and analysis of the plot and human nature, "Spider's Nest City" integrates the traditional Japanese "Noh" culture in it is also a very big highlight in the movie.
The so-called Noh (Japanese: Norake; Japanese kana: のうがく), which means "art with a plot" in Japanese, is one of the most representative traditional Japanese art forms. Noh includes both "Noh" and "Kyogen", and Noh is a play with a literary script called "Ballad", which has become the most important traditional drama in Japan. This type of drama is mainly based on traditional Japanese literary works, and the performance form is supplemented by masks, costumes, props and dances.
In the noh drama, the actor must wear a mask when performing, the mask is the holy relic of the noh actor, and others cannot watch it casually. After the actor's performance, he will also carefully treasure the mask in the wooden box, and when he wants to perform, he will also say "I want to play you" to the mask he takes out to show respect, once the mask is worn, the actor will play this role wholeheartedly, which is the soul of the noh drama. In Spider's Nest City, Hatsuzu's wife, Asakusa, has thick makeup on her face, which is equivalent to the mask in Noh, representing a person full of greed. Asagusa does not have much facial expression in the play, and has always been stiff compared to The rich expression of Vulture to express his inner feelings, more like a mask, which is also closely related to the requirements of the noh drama.
The scene where Vulture kills the lord of the city at the instigation of Asagusa can be described as a classic scene in the play, and it shows the elements of noh drama to the extreme. There is not a single line in the whole process, and Hatsuzu and Asagusa are alone in a "non-openable room" with bloodstained walls, all relying on the actor's face and body language to match the soundtrack of the taiko drum, rendering the tense atmosphere. Asakusa's careful steps, each step seems to be calculated, and combined with the background drum beat, it seems to reflect the violent beating hearts in the hearts of Asama and Hatsutsu.
Asagusa is the concentrated embodiment of Noh drama, with a miserable white face, wide clothes, broken steps, and expressionless face talking about the assassination plan, after Hatsu killed the lord of the city, her calm arrangement of the scene and washing her hands were deeply impressed, and Yamada Isuzu's outstanding acting skills also vividly expressed Asama's heart and the characteristics of Noh drama.
3. The pursuit of extreme details has created Akira Kurosawa to become a generation of film masters
Akira Kurosawa is also a director who pursues details, and the details behind the film highlight the quality of a professional director.
Originally, the Spider's Nest Castle was set at the foot of Mt. Fuji, but Akira Kurosawa felt that it was not ideal, so he moved it to the mountainside, and used the strength of a battalion stationed at the foot of Mt. Fuji at that time to help transport movie props to the foot of the mountain.
Some scenes of the film are completed in the studio, in order to make the scene in the studio match the half-waist exterior of Mt. Fuji, Kurosawa also transported the same soil from Mt. Fuji, so that the film scene is consistent before and after, inside and outside, and the details are highly unified.
In the end, the scene where Vulture is shot by his subordinates with ten thousand arrows, in order to be real, Kurosawa Akira also invited a professional archer to shoot a real bow and arrow, in order to ensure the safety of the lead actor Toshiro Mifune, specially designed the course of action to avoid accidental injury.
It can be said that these details have created the status of Akira Kurosawa's generation of film masters, and also through "Spider's Nest City", we can feel the collision of ideas from European Shakespearean literature and famous directors in the East, in order to present such a film masterpiece.
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summary: </h1>
"Spider's Nest City" is a classic work that combines Eastern and Western art, under the perfect display of Shakespeare's portrayal of human nature, Kurosawa Akira integrates Japanese artistic elements, using his own unique shooting, light and shadow use skills, the inferiority of human nature is filled in every minute of the film, so that people can watch and be impressed by its control of details, light and shadow, and story connotations, and cause self-reflection, and the evil of human nature brings only destruction.