<THRONE blood of>Throne of Blood is a film directed by a world famous Japanese director Akira Kurasawa is based on Macbeth but it is not a direct depiction of Macbeth.
Nevertheless the theme is just the same.
The cinema , one of the very famous in the world of cinema, deals with a human tragedy that arises out of guilt complex and ambition.
It is true that the military commander who is the hero of the film listens to the wife and commits a regicide, becomes disloyal. But looking in to his psychology it is not hard to find that his wife only brought the ugly ambitions in him. He himself was prone to commit such actions and he was simply encouraged. If you are listening to barrage of lies for example , then it only shows your interest in listening to such lies. So goes the story.
The Macbeth starts with three ghosts talking. Here the film ’’Throne of Blood’’ starts with a ghost who would be singing a song of prediction for the commander’s life. The military commander Washiju listens to this prediction and becomes very ambitious. The prediction was about how Wasiju, a general in the army , would become a king.
The next important scene was the dialogues between the Washiju and his wife.
He tells that the king is coming to the garrison (a small fort ) and that is a great honour to him. Wasiju is head of that fort. King was indeed coming to honour because he had recently won a battle against a staunch enemy Noriyasu against expectations of a defeat and against all odds. But the wife of Washiju says that he should not be so foolish to imagine. Everyone is jealous. King is suspicious of his popularity. Lot of intrigue is going on to keep him where he belongs to. She says that King is coming on a pretext of hunting because why he should come with a huge army and why such an army is camping in the forest nearest to the fort to which he himself is in-charge ?
So she advises the general Washiju her husband to murder the king.
The gruesome murder takes place.
The king’s another general and also long time friend of Washiju got suspicious. The palace gates were opened only when His highness the King’s body was brought in a coffin.
The final failure of Washiju and his down fall was the result of guilt complex , confusion and as the fate would have it , Washiju?s wife delivers only a dead child.
Washiju at one time seems satisfied becoming a king under the arrangement that another general’s son would inherit the throne after Washiju’s death. It could have been enough and peace could have rained in but for the ambitions of the Washiju’s wife. She says that with god’s grace after so many years she became pregnant and would delver a son. If all this murder of the king and all the bravery in many battles were all for handing over the throne to a general’s son , who is junior to you , then why she asks , we have done it all ? she says she did not soak her in hands in blood to hand over the throne to a general?s son !!
It naturally follows that Washiju should kill his friend as well who is general in the army and also generals son. Then only he could guarantee the throne to his son who is yet to born !
It is not very different from people who like to hoard wealth and corporate power to retain for the sake of their sons and grand sons and may be to the great grand children.
Washiju now depends more on the ghost who predicted all this and goes in search of that ghost to listen to his future.
This makes us remember ’’Doctor Faustus’’ drama written by Marlowe who mortgages his soul to a ghost only to get rich.
The guilt complex that is now deeply embedded in the psyche of Washiju and his wife begins to claim. His wife delivers a dead child and by that time Wasiju was already suffering from hallucinations. Anyway he hires a killer and the killer accomplishes the job of murdering his friend .
Now the friend’ son and arch enemy Noriyasu join the forces to come and attack on the palace. The war starts !
By all estimations Washiju should win the war easily.
But actually Washiju and war is somewhat interesting to see.
In our everyday life we know that guilty complex somewhere deep in the subconscious mind leads to a failure because the person suffering from guilt complex actually plans his failure ( or an accident) without his awareness at conscious levels.
I do not to spoil your interest in the movie by telling you the most interesting ending. You must see the film.