Set in the 11th century and based on a Japanese folk tale, Sansho the Bailiff deals with a well-born family who are tormented by their ideals. A provincial governor believes that all men are equal. This is, of course, a revolutionary thought and he is exiled. On their way to join him, his family falls into violence and despair. The wife ends up a courtesan and is brutally treated when she tries to escape. Meanwhile her kids are sold to Sansho, a bailiff who runs a large estate and treats his slaves cruelly.
The film charts the moral progress of the son, who idealises his father. He learns all about passion, impulse, duty and forgiveness. Is violence justifiable in the name of freedom? This question is given a spiritual dimension, far more powerful than any political abstractions, as the son struggles with his own savage impulses.
It’s a delicate and beautiful film and Mizoguchi’s controlled and brilliant style – the elegant leaps between time and space and character, the carefully balanced frame, the stunning camera moves that give way to raw emotion – is sublime. Don’t miss it.
