Shot 2: A
full-body shot of the man holding his stick linked to the previous shot by an
eye-line match between the man’s gaze and the direction the young woman was
coming from. The man is slightly above
eye-level and is in the very center of the shot. To his left is the stone-shapes sculpture
which is far enough in the foreground to be of equal height as the guard. Behind him is the cliff-side from the previous
shot and in the left of the foreground is the stone-shapes sculpture sitting on
a pile of different rocks. In the right
foreground are bushes of grass. The
woman enters from the left and continues to walk toward the man. Turning to face the woman, he says “What?” His
knees are bent and he is already fully standing up by the time the woman enters
the frame. As she crosses to the right
of the man, she says “Thank you for waiting. My brother will handle the rest.
Let’s go.” The man’s gaze continues to
follow the woman, who looks back to the left before turning to face the man once
she was ahead of him. The man nods at
the woman and looks off-screen in another eye-line match to the spot where the
older woman is presumably still lying on the ground. He gestures with his stick in this direction,
saying “I hope I don’t end up like that. Let’s go, quickly.” The man takes another glance around and
behind him before walking ahead of the woman to lead her towards the back right
of the frame. The woman turns back to
look off-screen again, taking three steps toward the camera. She hurries toward the right again, looking
back one last time before running off-screen.
Mizoguchi holds the shot of the differently-shaped stone sculpture for
about a second before cutting to the next shot.
Shot 3: In
this shot is the same scene as in shot 1, but the camera has moved slightly
farther away and to the right so that the woman lying on the ground is skewed
to the left with her head pointed at the bottom right corner of the frame. The cliff face covers the back “wall” of the
shot. The curved tree is at the right
side of the frame and bends over the grave-looking Buddha stone and toward the
center with the two branches still leaning over the lying woman whose hands are
still clasped on her stomach. In between
the curved tree and where the right side of the frame ends is the stone-shapes
sculpture. In the middle-ground between the cliff face and the lying woman, three
other Buddha stones are side-by-side in descending order of height from left to
right. Taking up the left side of the shot
and foreground is a dark wet rock. When
this shot begins, a water drop starts to drip consistently from the middle of
the dark rock to the bottom. A man runs
into the shot from the left, carrying straw.
He is looking in the direction that the previous two figures
exited. He stops in alignment with the
old woman’s chest before taking three steps toward the background to look
further toward their exit. He throws the
straw to the ground behind the grave-looking Buddha stone and moves quickly to
toss the leaning branches on the ground to the left and right of the old
woman. The man crouches over the old
woman and removes a vine that is attached to the headstone Buddha from the
woman’s hands. He takes something from
her chest and puts it in his robe. He
props the old woman up and tells her “Come, Namiji-san, let’s go” and slings
her arms over his shoulders to pick her up.
He adjusts her position on his back and runs diagonally off-screen at
the bottom right corner of the shot. As he runs away, minimalist music begins
to play. Mizoguchi cuts on the action of
the man running to:
Shot 4: A
long shot, somewhat obstructed by trees, of a path down a mountain. The man enters, still running, from the top
left corner of the frame. He moves down
the path which cuts diagonally down through the shot and wraps into the center
down towards the bottom of the mountain which is not visible. The old woman is slung over his back and as
he nears the end of the visible portion of the path, he seems to drop a piece
of fabric. The man takes a few more
steps before Mizoguchi cuts to the next shot.
During this shot, the music from the previous shot continues to
play. As the man runs down the hill, the
music grows in intensity. It mimics
typical American-style horror film music during a climactic point.
This scene comes at a pivotal point in the film. Zushio has just suggested that he and Anju escape from Sansho’s estate. Anju knows they’ll be caught if they both try to run so she tells Zushio to go without her and to take Najimi, whom they’d brought to the mountain to die. Zushio warns that Sansho will have Anju tortured, but she insists nonetheless.
Surrounding
what is to be Namiji’s grave at the top of the mountain are half a dozen Buddha
stone sculptures. Buddhism has an
important role in this film. The father’s teachings, which drive the plot
through Zushio’s actions, have strong connections to Buddhist beliefs and
teachings. It is what leads Zushio to
end the suffering of the slaves.
As for the
dripping water, it is clearly purposefully included and holds
significance. As these scenes progress,
anxiety and tension grow not only through actions, but in the music and with
these water drops. Suddenly there is a
consistent, frequent motion up front that steals your attention. To me, it almost feels like a clock. We’ve reached a climax in the plot where
things are going to take a drastic turn.
Zushio’s running away and what’s to become of Anju? Time seems to be
ticking away now as the audience is at the edge of their seats waiting to see
how the plot unfolds. Zushio’s movements
seem unnaturally quick, almost as if the film had been sped up in editing. However, the water drops are steady and
consistent and realistic-looking, although it may also be that the water was
originally slower and sped up in turn resulting in them looking a normal speed.
The water
dripping in this scene also foreshadows Anju’s death in the scene that directly
follows this one. As it dawns on the
guards that Zushio has escaped, Anju comes to understand the danger she’s in
and commits suicide in sacrifice for her brother by drowning herself in the lake. The dripping water seems to be time running
out for Anju before her watery death. My
understanding of these scenes is that they are precursors for the rest of the film and are used to build emotion and excite angst in the audience about Zushio’s
escape and Anju’s death and the events that will follow.
