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The Ballad of Narayama

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Shohei Imamura did something astonishing with his film 'The Ballad of Narayama.' Not only did he attempt to update a popular Japanese legend, he was creating an alternate version of the established classic, made by Keisuke Kinoshita [see Twenty Four Eyes] at the height of his powers. Reverence for the aged is a hallmark of Japanese society, so the ancient tradition of mountain people of exposing their no-longer productive relations on a mountaintop to die is very shocking to the Japanese. Kinoshita addressed the legend in a very stylized way, distancing the viewer from the action and thereby making the actions of these poor people somehow less terrible. Imamura, in stark contrast, emphasized the savagery of the traditional mountain society by parallelling it with the savagery of the natural world in which it, too, must survive. Imamura thereby makes the tradition seem somewhat inevitable and all the more moving because of its inexorability. These people aren't inhuman savages. They are survivors in a harsh environment. Imamura examines character so honestly that the people he depicts are revealed in their true humanity, and their actions are shown to be all the more tragic. A triumph for Imamura.

"The Ballad of Narayama," by director Shohei Imamaura, is a very depressing and haunting film. But that is not to say the film is not a great film. The film deals with the harsh realities of life in a 19th Japanese village. This village is small, and more importantly hunger-stricken. The community concerns of survival outweigh the morality of those who must accept their deaths when they reach the age of 70. The villagers in this 19th-century Japanese village must adhere to a very strict policy regarding population control if they are to survive. And what does this mean? Well for starters, the elderly are sent to die near a mountain called Narayama when they reach the age of 70.

This is not a happy film, for the most part, yet the viewer must understand that the very survival of the villagers depend upon survival in its most extreme form. Stealing food in this village means instant death. Truly a disturbing film---yet we must not pass judgment, because for these villagers, their very lives depend on draconian measures. Because starvation is a chronic threat to the villagers, draconian measures must be adhered to. And in this village death is an accepted fact of life. The first time I viewed this film I was very depressed by it, however, viewing it again recently made me understand that these villagers must adhere to strict policies if they are to survive. It is too easy to pass judgment on there villagers: they must do what they can in order to survive. However, there is also humor in this film. But the rather sad fate of those who reach the age of 70, and must accept their death, makes one forget about the humorous parts [at least to me].

The cruel realities of this village are not lost on the viewer. And many may have a difficult time with this film. But it is at least worth a watch. [I own the VHS]. Although it is not one of those films one takes out too often for repeated viewings, it is one that everyone should view at least once. The film centers on the life of one elderly woman named Orin (Sumiko Sakamoto). She is now in her seventieth year of life, and must therefore prepare to die. Her son Tatsuhei (Ken Ogata) has the responsibility of taking his mother up to the base of Narayama to die. This is truly an unforgettable film. This self-sacrifice for the survival of the village will leave a lasting and searing image in your mind, especially as you view Orin about to face her inevitable death. This is not a film one soon forgets after viewing. This film is highly recommended. [Stars: 4.5]

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Based of the old and unusual Japanese legend, Shohei Imamura's "The Ballad of Narayama" won the Golden Palm in 1983 Cannes Festival. Set in the 19th century in a remote mountain village in the north of the country, it tells of the custom according to which when a person reached 70 years old they were taken to the top of Mount Narayama and left there to die.

When I saw "The Ballad of Narayama" back in the 80s, I did not know anything about it. There were no commercials; the film was not widely released. I think it was only two shows in the theater near our house in Moscow. All we knew that the film was a Cannes Festival winner. Our sons were little then, we did not have a babysitter, and we bought tickets to two different shows. My husband went first, and when he came back, I waited for him at the door, ready to leave. He looked quiet, serious and withdrawn when he returned home. I asked him how the movie was and he said to me to go and see it, and then we'd talk...After I came home, I did not want to talk, I did not know what to say, I was overwhelmed - with the unique style of film-making that I did not know even existed, with the images, but also with the very simplicity of the story and with the whole concept of surviving above everything else. Among the most devastating scenes for me was the old woman readily and happily accepting her turn to be taken to Narayma. The woman of perfect health and mind, the one who is perhaps the sanest in her family is so tired of this life that she on purpose knocks out one of her teeth just to seem older, more fragile, helpless, and ill and to be taken to the long -awaited rest. But before she is taken to Naryama, she will take care of her three grown sons' problems.

There are many unforgettable scenes in the film, both bleak and life-affirming. One stands out after all these years. There is a shining brilliant spring day, and every living creature in sight is engaged in love, young couple on the swing, birds, animals, and snakes - the whole nature celebrates life and longing and love. And soon after that, as the contrast, the horrifying scene where the family of thieves who had stolen some food from the neighbors are buried alive.

And there is the final part - the ascent to Narayama, the middle-aged son carries his mother to her final resting place, the last minutes between a son and his mother, and then, the snow in the end, white and pure, covering the earth and preparing it for the long sleep, and covering the old Orin, comforting her softly and preparing her for eternity...

There are some classic images in Japanese film, scenes that stick with you long after the film is over. Takakura Ken, tattooed and brandishing his sword, about to take vengeance for his master. A hill with five mounds, each with a sword sticking from the top. This scene of Ogata Ken carrying his mother on his back, climbing up the mountain where he will leave her to die, has got to be among them. It is a powerful and moving image.

"The Ballad of Narayama" ("Narayama Bushiko") is a re-make of the 1958 film of the same name, which is in turn an adaptation of two books by Fukuzawa Shichiro, "The Ballad of Narayama" and "The Men of Tohoku", which were in turn based on an old folk legend called "The Mountain where Old People were Abandoned" from the 11th Century book Konjaku Monogatari. This is not true history, and there is no evidence that such a tradition ever existed outside of folktales. Life in the mountains was undeniably harsh, but not to the extent that human beings were abandoned like so much garbage.

A film does not have to be historically accurate, however, to have impact. Under the skilled hand of director Imamura Shohei, the story becomes an allegory for the physicality of human life, for the ephemeral nature of being alive. Characters reduced to their most primal aspects of survival do little more than gather food, have sex when they can, making new people to repeat the cycle, then grow old and become a burden with the younger generation silently hoping they would die off and clear some room. I was struck by how little human society has changed over the years, and by how much of my life I spend doing those very same things, just following my instincts and obeying my biological imperative.

"The Ballad of Narayama" is all about the biological imperative, and the conflict involved when animals are allowed to think and feel. Ogata Ken (Vengeance Is Mine) plays Tatsuhei, a strong and gruff man who is the leader of his family. He is a violent and primal character, but even this is mostly bluster. Inside, he is torn up over the ritual of carrying his beloved mother up the mountain to her death. But she will not be shamed, and demands that her son complete his task with dignity. All of the needs of survival and the pressures of survival drive him towards this, but he lacks the strength of will to stand against it.

While a brilliant film, it is not without its faults. Imamura intercuts the film with images of animals procreating, birthing and dieing, but sometimes the metaphor is too heavy handed. We get it, OK? Tone it down a little. Also, during the most dramatic part of the film, the climb up the mountain, the music is a synthesized bass line that does not suit the mood at all. For such a powerful and primal scene, electronic music was not the best choice.

These are minor faults though, and completely overshadowed by the rest of the film. An amazing movie by an amazing director.

The Ballad of Narayama is about the harsh realities of life in an impoverished Japanese village in the late eighteen hundreds. Sound boring? It's anything but. Sound depressing? Much of it is, but the overwhelming power of the film left my heart full rather than heavy. If you're looking for an incredibly well made film - brilliantly written, acted, filmed and directed - start here. You'll be glad you did.

Life in this small Japanese town 100 years ago simply did not have enought resources for all. So the old had to make way for the young, and thieves would not be tolerated. At the age of 69 the elders were expected to go up to the mountain and die. It was shameful and selfish not to do so. This movie chronicles the struggle of an old woman to prepare her family for her upcoming death. She is worried about them, and even goes as far as knocking out her own teeth in an effort to convince them that she is near death and old, in a horrifyingly funny seen. A great film. A misunderstood masterpiece. I originally saw it at a double bill with dersu uzala, another great film about aging in asia.

Undoubltedly, one of Imamura's Best of the Best ! Sexuality, Humanity, Ethics, Religion, Nature, Custom ... all dissolved into a Superb Story unfolding through the critical and beautiful lens of Imamura. It's a Must to everyone who loves cinema.

The story of a small mountain village whose inhabitants must struggle to eke out their meager living. Theft is not tolerated, and the old are left on a mountaintop to die from exposure. This is a fascinating portrayal of how people are sometimes forced by their circumstances to be as merciless as nature itself. It is easy to condemn many of the practices seen in this film, but we are forced to wonder how we might behave if we were similarly deprived. To what extent is our ethics a product of our relatively luxurious lifestyle? It is also interesting to see how various characters face their conditions--some retain their dignity and humanity, while others display what is most ugly and base in human nature.

Quite a few Asian films - Korean, Japanese, Chinese - explore the meaning of old age and specifically the cycle of life. This is one of the great themes of this film. The essential fact of this movie is that, through custom (and religion), the parents who reach age 70 are to leave the society and meet their end on the top of the Mountain Narayama. In a sense, it is both frightening and sacred. The cycle of life continues with the younger generation.

Everyone who sees this provocative movie will talk about its striking visual beauty. But more importantly, it strikes a nerve - how should society allocate its scarce resources. Ironically, the fact that the old are left to die by exposure is not necessarily a statement that the elders are not valued by the society. The old are valued...but they need to recognize their function in letting the young take their place. The act of death, therefore, becomes a sacred rite. This is very vividly presented in the last frames.

This is a thinking person's film. It also depicts in visual form a very primitive society, letting us have a picture of what the world must have looked like 10,000 years ago.
Highly recommended.

The Ballad of Narayama envisions a Hobbesian dystopia set in an impoverished village of feudal Japan. It's inhabitants don't simply live close to nature; they are a part of nature. In a lush valley landscape amid a lovely mountain backdrop, the villagers subsist much like animals, dependent on what little they can eke out of the land.

These farmers are filthy, malnourished, and vicious to one another. In the first half-hour of the film, we learn that they beat their kin, sell their children as chattel, throw their dead babies into fields as fertilizer and, when their elders reach the arbitrary age of 70, carry them to the mountains and leave them to die of exposure or starvation. This final pilgrimage is as much a sacrifice to the endemic hunger of the community as it is to the mountain gods, the gods who will supposedly reunite in the afterlife all those who perform the rituals they demand.

In this society, only eldest children have any value; younger ones are covered in rags and treated no better than slaves. Their teeth are rotting out of their heads. They form a despised underclass that is alternately neglected, abused, and raped. Life for them is, quite literally, nasty, brutish, and short.

Sex and death are ever-present, both in the human and the natural worlds; presented unblinkingly, these things are nothing to be surprised by, afraid of, embarrassed about, or sorry for. The peasants are impulsive and lusty, their songs bawdy and crude. They urinate and defecate openly. Mating, eating, excreting, dying: all are seen without shame as equally elemental and necessary functions.

Survival depends on dogged persistence in the face of adversity and on a ruthless willingness to discard anyone and anything, including sympathetic and filial emotions, that do not contribute to survival. Justice is swift and pitiless. A family that steals and hoards food is thrashed by a mob, their house is pillaged and, in short order, they are buried alive by a band of villagers. Not even children or pregnant women are afforded mercy.

While all of this sounds relentlessly miserable and depressing, the Ballad of Narayama is not without humor, since its characters are so human. They are petty and bumbling at one moment, proud and noble at another, and sometimes craven and courageous in the same breath. Much mirth arises from the stark contrast of these characteristics, and the extremes in the film make it impossible to forget that this is an over-the-top retelling of an ancient legend rather than a realistic or believable cultural portrait.

The story's central protagonists are an irresistably wry old woman, Orin, who faces death despite her rude good health and indomitable vitality, and her son Tatsuhei, whose duty it is to abandon her to the wilderness. Yet Orin doesn't fear her imminent demise as much as she does the prospect that her son will not find a wife or that he will not have the nerve to carry out his obligations and thereby shame her before the other villagers, as his father did. She sets about arranging things with single-minded efficiency and a seemingly inexhaustible reservoir of joie de vivre.

The journey at the film's climax is predictably bleak, yet it has both a stark beauty and an unquestionable magnificence to it. The cinematography, as many reviewers have noted, is stunning throughout, as is the naturalistic acting of the cast. For an appreciation of a very Japanese esthetic, I highly recommend this cinematic masterpiece by Shohei Imamura, whose equally searing film Black Rain, about a family that survives the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, is also recommended.