The Ballad Of Narayama - Life, Time-Honoured
Quick Thoughts: The Ballad Of Narayama (楢山節考, 1958)
In a village where it is customary to be left on a mountain top to die when you hit 70, an elderly woman watches her last days approach.
The Ballad Of Narayama is a fascinating film made by Shichirō Fukazawa in 1958. It is centred on a small village near mountains filled with rather awful young people. The family we focus on is made up of an elderly grandmother, her eldest son, who has lost his wife, and further younger generations. The grandmother is near death's doorstep and wants to conform to the village tradition of obasute. This is a Japanese tradition that appears in much folklore (it is not, however, believed that this was ever a prevalent tradition in the real world) of a child abandoning their elderly parent in a remote location to die. Obasute is framed by this narrative as an honourable decision and a chance to be righteous in death before the gods. This is why the grandmother, who is to be 70 soon, wants to be taken to the top of mount Narayama and left to die. However, the younger villagers are shown berrading and abusing their elders, one old man in particular who does not want to die. His family think him dishonourable and want him gone--rather literally. They refuse to give him food and leave him to scrounge off others whilst still forcing him to work their fields - they even try to tie him up and abandon him forcibly. Young village children, including the grandmother's grandchild, also abuse her. They mock her and call her a devil for still having many of her teeth at 69. This gets to her so badly that she knocks them out as to preserve her honour in the village and before the gods. Meanwhile, her grandchild, like the family of the old man clinging to his life, moans about how long his grandmother has been alive and wants her gone so that he and his pregnant girlfriend can essentially eat more rice.
This is, quite clearly, a narrative that sees its characters pulled between what is honourable and what is right before tradition. The grandmother believes herself a burden on the already struggling family, and so is happy to leave. Her oldest son, however, is tormented by the idea that she is not only going to be murdered, but that he will be the one to do it - how could that be right? This narrative seems so significant because it emerges from a post WWII Japan. It is during the war era that Japanese culture was perceived, and in many respects operated, without surrender--at any cost. Much more information can be derived from this Dan Carlin podcast on this subject, but, life and honour both in The Ballad of Narayama and in the war-time zeitgeist of Japan formed a clear hierarchy: honour and duty first, your life second. Shichirō Fukazawa's film seemingly wants to confront this conception, to not only question if this hierarchy is correct, but also expose the corruption in such a system. It is through the eldest son that tradition is then framed as inhuman, or, at the very least, devastatingly brutal. And it is with the young villagers who abuse their elders as if one day they will not be old themselves that corruption in this honour over life system is revealed.
Alas, there is never a definite conclusion given on the presented conflicts. Instead, what is emphasised above all else with elements of kabuki theatre is the shortness of life, its periodical, cyclical degradation of soul and spirit - which is only fully realised when it is much too late. With some brilliant direction, play with set transitions, music and lighting, this melancholic film asks its characters and audience to understand time's impact on space, to understand the world before they try to wrestle with life and honour. For this, I highly recommend this. However, if you have seen The Ballad Of Narayama, what are your thoughts?
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The Young Girls Of Rochefort - The Art-Musical
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In a village where it is customary to be left on a mountain top to die when you hit 70, an elderly woman watches her last days approach.
The Ballad Of Narayama is a fascinating film made by Shichirō Fukazawa in 1958. It is centred on a small village near mountains filled with rather awful young people. The family we focus on is made up of an elderly grandmother, her eldest son, who has lost his wife, and further younger generations. The grandmother is near death's doorstep and wants to conform to the village tradition of obasute. This is a Japanese tradition that appears in much folklore (it is not, however, believed that this was ever a prevalent tradition in the real world) of a child abandoning their elderly parent in a remote location to die. Obasute is framed by this narrative as an honourable decision and a chance to be righteous in death before the gods. This is why the grandmother, who is to be 70 soon, wants to be taken to the top of mount Narayama and left to die. However, the younger villagers are shown berrading and abusing their elders, one old man in particular who does not want to die. His family think him dishonourable and want him gone--rather literally. They refuse to give him food and leave him to scrounge off others whilst still forcing him to work their fields - they even try to tie him up and abandon him forcibly. Young village children, including the grandmother's grandchild, also abuse her. They mock her and call her a devil for still having many of her teeth at 69. This gets to her so badly that she knocks them out as to preserve her honour in the village and before the gods. Meanwhile, her grandchild, like the family of the old man clinging to his life, moans about how long his grandmother has been alive and wants her gone so that he and his pregnant girlfriend can essentially eat more rice.
This is, quite clearly, a narrative that sees its characters pulled between what is honourable and what is right before tradition. The grandmother believes herself a burden on the already struggling family, and so is happy to leave. Her oldest son, however, is tormented by the idea that she is not only going to be murdered, but that he will be the one to do it - how could that be right? This narrative seems so significant because it emerges from a post WWII Japan. It is during the war era that Japanese culture was perceived, and in many respects operated, without surrender--at any cost. Much more information can be derived from this Dan Carlin podcast on this subject, but, life and honour both in The Ballad of Narayama and in the war-time zeitgeist of Japan formed a clear hierarchy: honour and duty first, your life second. Shichirō Fukazawa's film seemingly wants to confront this conception, to not only question if this hierarchy is correct, but also expose the corruption in such a system. It is through the eldest son that tradition is then framed as inhuman, or, at the very least, devastatingly brutal. And it is with the young villagers who abuse their elders as if one day they will not be old themselves that corruption in this honour over life system is revealed.
Alas, there is never a definite conclusion given on the presented conflicts. Instead, what is emphasised above all else with elements of kabuki theatre is the shortness of life, its periodical, cyclical degradation of soul and spirit - which is only fully realised when it is much too late. With some brilliant direction, play with set transitions, music and lighting, this melancholic film asks its characters and audience to understand time's impact on space, to understand the world before they try to wrestle with life and honour. For this, I highly recommend this. However, if you have seen The Ballad Of Narayama, what are your thoughts?
Previous post:
Tomb Raider - Objective & Subjective Drama
Next post:
The Young Girls Of Rochefort - The Art-Musical
More from me:
amazon.com/author/danielslack
