Sansho the Bailiff: Scene Analysis

Shot 1: An outdoor master shot of an old woman lying on the ground in the center of the shot and a young woman entering carrying branches from the left.  The older woman’s hands are clasped on her stomach and her feet are not visible due to a stone Buddha sculpture in the foreground.  There are three other Buddha sculptures in the shot: one directly to the left of the younger woman after she enters, one at the older lying woman’s head (similar to a gravestone) and one in the background between the grave-looking one and a tree curved into the center of the shot. Also in the background is a small sculpture of differently-sized and shaped stone pieces on top of one another.  Behind this a man is sitting and holding a long stick.  Tree leaves cover most of the top of the frame and there is the side of a rocky cliff that acts as the back wall directly across from the camera.  During this entire shot, the camera maintains one position at about height-level with the young woman.  However, the camera seems to bob up and down slightly, mimicking the breeze in the leaves.  The young woman enters from the left side of the frame, carrying two large branches.  She crouches slightly to rest one of the branches on the ground next to old woman while she leans the other against the curved tree over the woman.  The young woman then stands, looks down at the old woman then faces toward the man and says “My brother will do the rest.”  The young woman turns away from the camera and walks at an angle towards the back center of the shot, towards the guard who, noticing her approach begins to stand up.  Mizoguchi cuts on these actions to:

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.