Sansho the Bailiff (1954)

 Kenji Mizoguchi's "Sansho the Bailiff"

It seems as though Kenji Mizoguchi was on a roll in the years 1952 through 1954, directing some of the greatest Japanese films of all time in that span. One of the films he released in 1954, "Sansho the Bailiff," Mizoguchi continues to build on his legacy as a filmmaker with his trademark long takes and his themes of poverty, oppression, and brutality. The film was also once again received well by Western critics and filmmakers, after lauding 1952's "The Life of Oharu" and 1953's "Ugetsu." After winning the Silver Lion at the 1954 Venice Film Festival, "Sansho the Bailiff" has gone on through the decades to be considered one of the greatest films of all time.

The film centers on a two children of an idealistic and virtuous governor in feudal Japan. After disobeying an order by the reigning feudal lord, he is cast into exile and his wife and children have to escape the political turmoil and fend for themselves. The wife and children are kidnapped by bandits, the wife sold into prostitution and the children are sold as slave labor to Sansho the Bailiff, a brutal and sadistic slave master who runs the estate of the Minister of the Right. After ten years of living under brutal conditions as slaves, the two children plan an escape. The younger boy, Zushio, escapes, while the sister, Anju, distracts the guards. Zushio returns to the land of his father, where he learns that he is the reigning heir to the governor position due to his father's passing. He uses his new powers to abolish slavery in the land and arrests Sansho. However, upon his return to Sansho's estate, he learns that Anji has drowned herself. He eventually finds his old and weathered mother, where the two embrace.

Despite not being the scriptwriter for story, it seems as though Mizoguchi really likes to invest himself in stories about brutal and bleak landscapes that undeserving characters are forced to navigate in. The central characters of the story, must navigate the wide breadth of economic disparity. They begin the films as aristocratic, until eventually falling to the lowest possible position on the economic latter. After Zushio escapes, he becomes one of the most powerful people in the land. This shifting between various economic points so fluidly goes to show you how unstable order actually is. On top of this, the complete despair they feel through their hardships form the prevailing theme of forging strength through life's suffering. 

Mizoguchi creates a vicious landscape of suffering and brutality. However, the key remark made by the children's father at the beginning of the film, "Without mercy, man is like a beast. Even if you are hard on yourself, be merciful to others," becomes the pervading message of the whole film. Through all of their hardships and suffering, the children still adhere to this guiding principal that the human spirit is capable of mercy and compassion. Through this burning emblem, Zushio forges a better world through his circumstances.

"Sansho the Bailiff" is a brutal watch, but its underlying of compassion and mercy in the face of bleak hardship demonstrates a real-world moral call. The utter despair that can be created by humanity can equally be squelched through love and kindness. It's a harsh world, full of despair and desolation. But, perhaps being Mizoguchi's most uplifting thematic point, there isn't a complete hopelessness for our souls.