I love watching classic black and white movies!  I rented Rashômon through Netflix last week because it sounded interesting.  Though it's supposed to be considered an occult classic, I had never actually heard of it- I just happened upon the title while I was browsing.

In Rashômon, a traveling samurai and his wife are attacked by a bandit.  The wife is raped and the samurai ends up dead.  As this case is presented before the court, the story is told from 4 different points of view - the bandit, the woman, the spirit of the dead samurai, and a woodcutter who witnessed it.  Each story has similarities, but yet, there are major differences.  It leaves the viewer not really knowing which story to believe. 

The whole idea behind the film is to show how every human being has the ability to lie-and WILL lie- often without even realizing it.  In Kurosawa's autobiography, he observes "Human beings are unable to be honest with themselves about themselves. They cannot talk about themselves without embellishing."  I think this film does a wonderful job of conveying that. 

Though it's never suggested in the film, I know from personal observation that sometimes when people forget the details of a certain memory, they will often throw in imaginary details until it suits them, and thus that is how they remember it.  Everything about that memory- including the parts that they merely dreamed up- becomes truth to them.  I'm not sure if that's the case with the characters in this film.  I think it could be for a couple of them, while the remaining are more than likely deliberately lying to make themselves look good.  It just adds to the mystery.  It's never quite clear what the motives are behind each version- each which possesses obvious blurred truth.  The viewer can only speculate, and that's really no different from real life. 

The acting seems more like it's meant for a stage play than a film, but it isn't bad.  The directing is good and the scenes are well composed.  It's a great movie to watch on a rainy day. I'm adding it to my favorites list.