The Ballad of Narayama

A

Directed by Shohei Imamura

One of Shohei Imamura's most critically acclaimed works, "The Ballad of Narayama" cast a decidedly Imamura-esque look at 19th century village life in rural Japan, not without some of his trademark (and at times tiresome) skewering of social mores. Imamura's excesses, however, are not enough to sink a film that is full of meaning, beautiful to look at and butressed by one of the strongest finales I've seen in a long, long time.

The elderly Orin lives with her three children and their various wives and children (who rotate regularly throughout the film). Traditionally in their village, the elderly are taken up mount Narayama byt their eldest son and deposited there to die once they have reached an age where they can no longer be of service to the community. Orin, although still in good health, wants to go out in her prime and thus spends the eyar arranging the affairs of her family before enlisting the help of her eldest son, Tetsuhei, to take her the the mountain.

"The Ballad of Narayama" is yet another Imamura film that places a central focus on revealing the underbelly of Japanese society, although unlike most of his other well known works which were aimed squarely at contemporary Japan, this one plumbs history to find some dirty laundry.
As I've said before, I find that Imamura's social critique can at times be nothing more than cheap potshots directed at traditional Japanese social norms just for the sake of skewering them. It's fascinating to consider that Imamura, who made a name for himself by exposing the underbelly of Japanese society, was once Yasujiro Ozu's assistant. Ozu's vision of Japanese society, though not completely positive, was nonetheless strongly influenced by a deep respect for traditonal values, a sharp contrast to Immaura's often derogatory handling of Japanese social customs. In "The Ballad of Narayama" Imamura shows 19th century village life in rural Japan not as a bastion of community solidarity and tight knit families but rather as a cut throat world dominated by distrust, scarce ressources and, to some extent, ignorance. His attempt to unveil the murkier side of this traditional rural setting certainly allows for a fair amount of drama but his portayal of village life is also a tad bit over the top.
Many of shortcomings of Imamura's film (I'm tempted to say all of them, actually) were blown into the foggy recesses of my mind by the film's denouement, which is one of the most unrelenting, intense, and brilliant scenes I've ever witnessed. Watching Tatsuhei struggle up the mountain with his mother strapped to his back felt like watching Jon Voigt scale the rocky outcroppings of the Cahulawassee River in "Deliverance," a struggle of brute strength and will against nature's elements. It's an arresting, excruciating scene, riveting yet full of meaning and metaphor.
My own interpretation of Imamura's film is that it is about manliness, or at least a version of manliness that is closer to Machiavelli's virtu, a sort of martial spirit that can successfully navigate life's choppy waters. Before anyone accuses me of highfallutin academic grandstanding, the reason I thought about virtu when watching "The Ballad of Narayama" is that Machiavelli's virtu is not simply reserved for men but women can also have virtu and in essence be more manly than men. In this manner, Orin is probably the 'manliest' individual in her village and certainly far more so than Tetsuhei who trudges up the mountain but in the end has difficulty letting his mother perish, even though she herself has embraced her fate. If anyone was turned off by my pseudo academic breakdown of the film, I'll understand.
Regardless of any highfallutin anaylsis, there is no denying that "The Ballad of Narayama" is grand cinema. Imamura was an infintely talented filmmaker, especially when he focused on asking bigger questions as opposed to simply reveling in the dirty details of the lives of his characters.