1964 was THE great year for Japanese movies: Manji (Suzuki), Onibaba (Shindo), Sunna No Onna (Teshigahara), Ansatsu (Shinoda). Perhaps the greatest, though the least known, is the jidai-geki Dai Satsujin, or The Great Melee by Eiichi Kudo.
It is one of the most breathtakingly austere and gruelling movies that you will ever see. The unrelenting nature of the film, and the clear sense that things will not end happily is established from the very first shot, a static from a dingy crevice beneath a Medici-style rough-hewn stone rampart, a symbol of harsh unresponding authority (much like the ancestral armour in Kobayashi's Seppuku), during which a grim narration is received.
In this movie, several characters will be put to the test. Their sense of duty will be put through the fire as their resistance movement flounders. From some we will find cowardice, from others unexpected bravery, others will totally lose their moral bearings. In this sense it is similar both to Verhoeven's Soldiers of Orange, and most specifically to Inagaki's version of the tale of the Loyal 47 Ronin (Chushingura). In Chushingura, one is left to wallow in the hollowness of the ronin's sacrifice to a hollow and fascist code of duty. The Great Melee on the other hand is specifically related to the Japanese student protest movement of the time, and although it seems that the opposing factions are fighting merely to determine the heir to the shogunate, Eichii Kudo is actually attempting to compel watchers to question their contemporary circumstances.
*****MASSIVE SPOILER ALERT*********
Another reviewer has wisely compared the movie to Melville's Army of Shadows. In it we are shown in decidedly drawn-out fashion how the resistance strangle one of their own, a traitor, when they realise that they can't shoot him because of the noise it would make. Eiichi Kudo outdoes the horror of this scene when he shows us how Shiro Osaka's character has murdered his wife and children, in an apparent act of mercy, knowing that their life will not be worth living once the aftermath of the attempted assassination occurs. Prior to this the audience had been shown very poignant scenes of their Elysian family life.
The mêlée at the end where Tsunashige and his retainers are pursued down the middle of a river is incredibly suspenseful and adrenalising, worth the price of my admission alone.
******Spoiler Alert ended******
One of the unusual aspects of this movie is the lack of music usually found in similar movies, this was apparently done to enhance the realism, and the whole thing is shot in an incredible cinema verite style that makes you feel like you're right there.
Highly recommended.
It is one of the most breathtakingly austere and gruelling movies that you will ever see. The unrelenting nature of the film, and the clear sense that things will not end happily is established from the very first shot, a static from a dingy crevice beneath a Medici-style rough-hewn stone rampart, a symbol of harsh unresponding authority (much like the ancestral armour in Kobayashi's Seppuku), during which a grim narration is received.
In this movie, several characters will be put to the test. Their sense of duty will be put through the fire as their resistance movement flounders. From some we will find cowardice, from others unexpected bravery, others will totally lose their moral bearings. In this sense it is similar both to Verhoeven's Soldiers of Orange, and most specifically to Inagaki's version of the tale of the Loyal 47 Ronin (Chushingura). In Chushingura, one is left to wallow in the hollowness of the ronin's sacrifice to a hollow and fascist code of duty. The Great Melee on the other hand is specifically related to the Japanese student protest movement of the time, and although it seems that the opposing factions are fighting merely to determine the heir to the shogunate, Eichii Kudo is actually attempting to compel watchers to question their contemporary circumstances.
*****MASSIVE SPOILER ALERT*********
Another reviewer has wisely compared the movie to Melville's Army of Shadows. In it we are shown in decidedly drawn-out fashion how the resistance strangle one of their own, a traitor, when they realise that they can't shoot him because of the noise it would make. Eiichi Kudo outdoes the horror of this scene when he shows us how Shiro Osaka's character has murdered his wife and children, in an apparent act of mercy, knowing that their life will not be worth living once the aftermath of the attempted assassination occurs. Prior to this the audience had been shown very poignant scenes of their Elysian family life.
The mêlée at the end where Tsunashige and his retainers are pursued down the middle of a river is incredibly suspenseful and adrenalising, worth the price of my admission alone.
******Spoiler Alert ended******
One of the unusual aspects of this movie is the lack of music usually found in similar movies, this was apparently done to enhance the realism, and the whole thing is shot in an incredible cinema verite style that makes you feel like you're right there.
Highly recommended.