Unforgiven
(Yurusarezarumono):
Written and directed by Sang-il Lee. Starring: Ken Watanabe, Akira Emoto,
Yuya Yagiri, Shiori Kutsuna, Eiko Koike, Koichi Sato. Running
Time: 135 minutes. Based on the original
screenplay of the same name, by David Webb People.
Rating: 3.5/4
As far back as collective human
memory goes, the debate over when, how, and for what purposes people can or
should be able to kill other people has continued unabated. There is hardly a religion, philosophy,
sociopolitical system, or culture that does not involve some law, tradition, or
other concerning the subject. And yet,
after six thousand years of soul-searching, many would assert that we have not
reached any definitive conclusion as a species.
And for as long as we have been telling stories, and more recently
making movies, we have asked and explored one question after another, diving
into the nature of man’s role in death, and more often than not coming up less
than satisfied- or pleased- with what we’ve found. Into this thick and heady fray comes Unforgiven, a Japanese-samurai remake of
the now-legendary Clint Eastwood Western that took home Best Picture and Best
Director at the Academy awards over 20 years ago.
Ken Watanabe stars as Jubei, an
infamous ex-samurai known as “Jubei the Killer,” who was forced into hiding on
the northern island of Hokkaido after the Meiji Restoration led to the
elimination of many of the former samurai nobles. There, he has sought to leave his violent
past behind him, raising his children on a small farm in the middle of
nowhere. However, the past, slippery
devil that it is, soon catches up to him the form of his former comrade-in-arms,
Kingo. Farther to the north, in a small
hamlet controlled by the dictatorial Oichi, two farmers have had a bounty put
on their heads by the prostitutes of a small bar, after one of them drunkenly cut
up the face of one of their sisters. Kingo has gotten wind of the promised amount, and wants Jubei's help taking out the farmers, after which they will split the cash. He
is, at first, unwilling, but the land is so destitute and barren, and the needs
of his children too great, that he breaks his promise to his deceased wife and
rides north to assist his friend.
They are initially stalked, and soon
joined, by Ichizo, an Ainu, who are a native local people relentlessly
persecuted for their unique language and culture by the Japanese forces that
occupy the island. The group reaches the
village fairly quickly, but are caught unawares by just how brutally Oichi
enforces his “no-weapons” rule. Oichi
also happens to be a veteran of one of the original pursuit units that tracked
samurai across the island nearly a decade earlier, and his hatred for both them
and the native Ainu makes him even more determined to prevent Jubei and his
friends from fulfilling their goal of killing the two alcoholic farmers, even
though he says up-front that he does not care if the two villagers live or
die.
The real strength of the story,
though, comes from how it doesn’t just rely on the instinctive hatred between
Jubei and Oichi to generate conflict and flashy fight scenes. Instead, both that and the search for the
farmers are used as reflections on the aforementioned ambiguity of when and why
killing could be justified. Yes, the two
targets have done something terrible, but they are never shown to be inherently
violent people. One of them even brings
gifts as an apology early in the film.
Is it even right to say that Oichi, for all his open brutality to, well,
everyone and everything, should die? We see
how open and degrading the repression of the Ainu is. Although they are and have always been a
peaceful people, would they be justified in rising up in revolt? The determined mother of the prostitute house
is given a chance at the very beginning to kill the farmers herself, and does
not take it. Is it fear of retribution
from Oichi, or a fear of corrupting herself, even in the name of achieving her perceived
justice for her injured friend?
Right from the start, the movie
wades into this murky and gray moral swamp, and never really bothers to leave
it, even at the end, when Jubei takes responsibility for everything that has
happened upon himself. Killing weighs on a
person, especially people like Ichizo who have never done it before. The original Unforgiven was in many ways an attempt to undercut the nostalgic
glorification of the classic shootout as seen in so many of the original genre
classics, and Lee’s remake fully embraces this aspect of the subject
matter. Jubei is the best there is at
killing a lot of people, and one look on his face tells us that he long ago
ceased to reflect on whether or not such things are right or wrong, even though
he has tried so hard to achieve some form of redemption for his actions. I would hate to see the results should Ken Watanabe and Clint Eastwood ever get into a tortured stare-off.
Set against the stunningly gorgeous backdrop
of the mountainous Hokkaido landscape, where the characters are often seen
simply as tiny moving dots along a vast and rolling hillside, there is an air
of inevitability to the events depicted as they play out before us. Hatred and a desire for vengeance sets
everything in motion, and by the time the final blows have landed, everyone
involved, even the poor mutilated girl, seem to be at a loss as to what the benefit
of it all was.
It is an effective and striking
movie, although not one without its flaws.
Jubei seems very quick in his decision to break his promise to his wife-
a little more time devoted to his children, to give real weight to his fate,
would not have gone amiss. Additionally,
I had hoped to see a lot more of the prostitutes (thus far, one of the
strangest critiques I’ve had in a review).
When they first appear, there are some lines rich with subtext regarding
the status of women, and sex workers in particular, in a lawless land where
might makes right. They are every bit as shaded as Jubei and
Oichi, and having more of their presence and their own unique struggles with
this world of violence would have given the film a fuller, more rounded feel,
but I can’t say they are underrepresented, since this is ultimately a film
about Jubei himself.
I think this film is worthwhile
watching for everyone, regardless of whether or not you love, hate, or have
never seen the Clint Eastwood original. It
is gorgeously filmed, effectively acted, and will leave you with a lot to think
about when it’s over.
Next
film: Tamako In Moratorium
-Noah
Franc
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