There have been countless stage and film adaptations of William Shakespeare’s “Macbeth”, but many film critics hold Kurosawa’s Throne of Blood to be one of the most successful renditions of the classic tragedy. The film was developed during what some consider to be an experimental stage in Kurosawa’s career. Rather than executing a by-the-numbers adaptation of the Shakespearean play, Kurosawa essentially transposes the story of Macbeth to his own ends. While the parallels are obvious, much of the original play has been modified to correspond with feudal Japan. Even the Macbeth character – here referred to as Washizu (Toshiro Mifune) – has been altered to appear somewhat less vindictive; only corrupted after adhering to his lady’s artful persuasion. The entire film represents a sort of moral document on dehumanization really, and while having only seen ten of Kurosawa’s films, I think it’s safe to say that this is his most nihilistic.
Anyone who’s taken a high school literature course should be familiar with “Macbeth”, so I won’t bore you with details on the original. Blood, on the other hand, offers more in terms of cultural relevance – as far as medieval Japan goes – and the ominous elements that Kurosawa so masterfully applies here are worth discussing. More structured and direct than the source material, Blood is told in four temporal blocks, making “Macbeth” feel a little more prolonged – yet a few sequences in Kurosawa’s version still seemed unnecessarily dragged out, but I digress.
Washizu – Macbeth’s equivalent – and Miki (Minoru Chiaki) – Banquo’s equivalent – are two commanders who encounter an enigmatic spirit in a forest maze. The spirit prophesizes that Washizu will rule over a northern garrison, while Miki will command the main fortress. The spirit also foretells that, in time, Washizu will be promoted to Lord of the Forest Castle and Miki’s son will eventually inherit the castle’s throne. Once the first half of the prophecy is realized, Washizu’s ruthless wife Asaji (Isuzu Yamada) advises her husband to speed up the rest of the prophecy by assassinating the current lord of Forest Castle and succeed the throne immediately. Influenced by Lady Asaji’s ambitious proposals, Washizu carries out a covert killing spree to ensure his reign over the Forest Castle.
Free will versus fate was typically what fueled our “Macbeth” discussions in high school, and here Kurosawa seems to imply that free will is purely idealistic and everything and everyone basically correlates with fate. Blood is first and foremost a portrait of Washizu’s indecisiveness, demonstrating how the future lord is ultimately pinned into a corner after Asaji fills his head with apprehension. If you really observe this film, you’ll begin to notice how integral the role of fog is to the plot; mostly as a symbolic implication of Washizu’s confused frame of mind, but also as a reference to the sometimes empty, heartless abyss of man’s soul. Blood also takes several steps further than “Macbeth” as a social critique of feudalism in Japan. As we’re all aware, Kurosawa has never been one to shy away from political agendas and he sums up the terror-filled customs of the feudal era quite clearly in this film.
One would expect an interpretation of “Macbeth” to feature its fair share of theatrics, but the stylization and handling of Blood felt more Spartacus than Olivier-esque. The scope is by far the widest of any “Macbeth” adaptation I’ve seen, yet in many ways just as claustrophobic as a stage version would be. Without completely omitting that dramatic Shakespearean allure, Kurosawa incorporates plenty of classical Noh techniques, largely evident in Mifune’s and Yamada’s – Asaji – facial expressions, which resembled Noh masks in certain scenes.
Certainly not my favorite Kurosawa film – although it's perhaps his most influential – Blood manages to do “Macbeth” justice without following any conventional pattern. It’s essential Kurosawa, and while I wasn’t able to fully invest in the film’s often hammy atmosphere, I couldn’t discount the almost perfectionist approach taken in every frame of this film.
8/10
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