Film review of The Legend of Narayama (1983)

A few life hacks from residents of a Japanese village - to make life easier, baby boys should be killed during childbirth, and their bodies should be fertilized in fields where potatoes grow so that the harvest is better. The girls don't need to be killed-they can be sold to salt dealers. Elderly people who are of little use should be taken to Mount Narayama to die (such is the pension reform).

Is it cruel? Try to survive in a traditional Japanese village in the middle of the 19th century. A village where the thief's entire family is buried alive for theft, including pregnant women and children, and the ground is also crushed on top so that someone does not get out. Where a man on his deathbed makes a promise from a woman that she will sleep with all the adult men of the village so that the curse disappears. Where a woman who managed to keep most of her teeth at the age of 69 knocks them out on her own because she is being teased by the devil.

Director Imamura was a revelation to me. Being far from Japanese cinema, and even more so the cinema of the 80s, I was fascinated. Duration, regularity, and sometimes even static. The textured views, attention to detail, and frame construction are simply amazing. The movie looks like a poetic movie in a good way, if you know what I mean. Some of the moments are so authentic, even ugly, that, firstly, it is simply impossible to tear yourself away from watching. Secondly, because of the rejection, you begin to believe that this is exactly what happened a hundred years ago.

On the downside, it was so dark in the frame at times that you could only guess what was going on. I understand the director's artistic intent, but you can't see anything except black moving on black.

The main character of the film, 69-year-old Orin, reminded me of my average grandmother. You know, the one who goes to church every week, whitens the curbs before the holidays, tries to plant potatoes as soon as the snow doesn't come off, so that it grows no later than the neighbors. Such an old "oh, what will people say", but Japanese style. According to local customs, she finds wives for her sons, allows her grandson's woman to be buried alive along with her unborn great-granddaughter, and prepares for her last trip to the mountain to God. It is important for her that her eldest son does not disgrace himself, as her husband once did, when he disregarded the traditions of society.

"The Legend of Narayama" is a story about a mother's all-encompassing love and obedience to the inserted traditions and beliefs. The story is about a strong woman who has lived a long and difficult life, settled all earthly affairs in order to go to a place where "there is no definite road, but you have to go higher and higher, God is waiting for you there."