Asura: Written by Ikuko Takahashi, directed by
Keiichi Sato. Starring: Masako Nozawa, Kinya Kitaoji, Megumi Hayashibara, Tessho
Genda, Hiraoki Hirata. Running Time: 75 minutes. Based on the manga by George Akiyama.
Rating: 4/4 Stars
It’s 15th-century
Japan, and the countryside is ravaged by civil war, drought, and famine. In the midst of this hell, a lone woman, her
village destroyed and her family most probably dead, gives birth to a boy in a
desecrated temple. From literally the
very first seconds of his life, the mother must use brutal force to protect the
life of her child. That is, however,
until hunger overwhelms her, and in a moment of insanity, she attempts to eat
her own son to survive. Realizing what
she’s about to do, however, she runs off in horror, leaving the child alone and
abandoned.
The
movie then cuts to an unknown number of years later. The abandoned child is now a wandering
barbarian, incapable of speech, killing and eating every form of life he
encounters, be it animal or human. He
tries to change his ways, however, after being subdued by a powerful monk. The monk feeds the child, teaches him a
Buddhist mantra, and gives him a name- Asura (pronounced “Ashura”), roughly
translated as “Demon God.” Although
still prone to violence and murderous rage, Asura tries to learn to tame his
violent instincts, especially after his life is saved by Wasaka, a beautiful
and sweet girl from a nearby village ruled over by a vengeful lord. Obviously, overcoming instinct is no easy
feat, and Asura is soon forced to confront the terrible nature of his earlier
behavior.
I was
unsure what to think of Asura right
after I saw it, but for some reason, this film has stuck with me in a way few
others manage to do. It is a graphic,
bloody, brutal, and dark movie, but so are a thousand others. What makes Asura different? I suppose
one reason is its distinct visual style- it is a hybrid animation film, a new
style developed by Toei Animation. The
backgrounds are watercolor, but the characters themselves are rendered in 3D,
and the result is something truly astounding to look at. There is also an excellent use of light and
shadows. This is a land that can be
green and blue, but at a moment’s notice it can switch to black, gray, or bloody red. Sunlight can be peaceful and
life-giving, but also brutally harsh and revealing. Several shots use shadows brilliantly,
revealing a lone, broken figure clawing its way across a barren land.
The
rawness of the animation matches the rawness of its story and characters. This is a harsh country full of harsh people,
living in harsh times. Some of this is
explained in monologues by the monk who saves Asura (and who also provides the
opening and closing narration), but most of it, thankfully, is shown- in one
scene, the monk comes across a village devastated by flood. There is no dialogue, and I recall no music, simply
a shot of the monk putting his hands together in grieved prayer. The desperation of their circumstances
provokes brutal violence by many of the characters, not just Asura, although
his crimes are clearly seen as the worst- it is established early on that he
has committed both cannibalism and vampirism (of the real-world variety). It is these acts for which he must pay the ultimate price, and I’m not talking about death.
Asura is a hard film to watch, but it is
one of the best movies I have seen thus far this year. Its animation is high-quality, but I cannot
call it a “beautiful” movie, at least not in the sense that a Ghibli movie is
beautiful. It challenges, and sometimes
depresses, but despite that, despite the cynicism that one might be tempted to
draw from the depravity depicted on-screen, Asura
still manages to end on a note of qualified optimism. Terrible crimes have been committed, and lives
have been destroyed, but as the monk quietly observes- “Although we all bear our
own sins, we shall always carry on. And
this makes life beautiful."
-Noah Franc
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