The films of Japanese director Akira Kurosawa have had a great influence on contemporary films, with his ronin films Seven Samurai and Yojimbo influencing countless westerns and mob films. However, Rashomon was arguably the most defining of all of Kurosawa's films because it asks a question that is at the heart of all cinema: what is reality? Any television or movie consumer today has seen various permutations of Rashomon's plot numerous times, probably without realizing it. In the film, a rape and the resulting murder are recounted five times, by a lumberjack (Takashi Shimura) who appears to have witnessed the event, a bandit (Toshiro Mifune) who committed the rape, the wife of a samurai (Machiko Kyo) who has been raped, and the ghost of the samurai (Masayuki Mori), who is channeled by a medium after his murder. In each story, the viewer is confronted with five realities which, through the use of various frame stories, are completely incompatible with each other. Throughout, Rashomon is a study in simplicity. Kazuo Miyagawa's beautiful, yet frugal cinematography and minimalist plot, skillfully directed by Kurosawa, force the viewer to confront two dissonant notions: that everything he has seen is real, but that none of it cannot be true. The film opens in the rain. spilling over the ruins of the ancient eponymous Rashomon, a grandiose ancient structure was once a city gate, but now sits in an unsavory and abandoned neighborhood. The gate serves as the main setting for the frame story in which, while waiting for the rain to subside, a woodcutter, a priest and a peasant discuss the strange murder of the samurai. The gate is also symbolic, representing the decline of Japan immediately middle of paper...... as the film ends with the sun rising over the rainy gate, one can't help but feel confused as well and lost like the characters from the first lines of the film when they intone their total incomprehension of the situation. Although the woodcutter seems to redeem himself from the treachery of (eventually) stealing the dagger by adopting a baby left under the gate, the film is never resolved. Although faith is restored that men can also be good (a central question throughout the film), we never find out what was real. That’s the whole point of the film; We are never shown what is real because we will never know. Works CitedPiper, Jim. Get the photo? The movie buff's guide to watching movies. 2nd ed. New York, New York: Allworth, 2008. Print. Rashomon. Akira Kurasawa. 1950. The Criterion Collection, 2002. DVD