MovieChat Forums > Ran (1985) Discussion > Ending....*SPOILERS*

Ending....SPOILERS

posted 12 years ago by hexedd
8 replies | jump to latest

I'm a huge Kurosawa fan and loved this whole film. I wondered if anyone else might have thoughts on the ending? From the little I know about Buddhist philosophy at the end the message seemed to be that the blind man lived because though he couldn't literally "see" he was being led by Buddha in the way of peace and without angst or animosity. So when he dropped the Buddha picture and it unfurled on the ground, it seemed to me to be sending the message that he was the only one that lived because of this. But then again, his sister dies, and she was living a way of peace too...

Any thoughts? Beautiful film and I'd have to say as much as I love all of Kurosawa's stuff, this might be #1 for me.

[–] dockmasterlms 12 years ago

Glad to hear you appreciated the movie that much. Haven't seen that many Kurosawa films, but Ran is in my top five favorites. I've recognized some symbolism here and there (the ending of Rhapsody in August was, to me, a tribute to the generation that survived the War), and the ending of Ran was quite blunt about where the path of treachery, war, ambition and revenge was leading to - a blind man trapped standing at the edge of a cliff, and even Buddha will not be able to save us from our own self-destruction.

[–] hexedd 12 years ago

Wow, so simple yet profound. Thanks so much for that. That makes me want to watch the whole movie (all three hours of it) over again. Appreciate your thoughts. :)

[–] pedrok-o 12 years ago

I saw that ending passage as a remark on the human being himself, a creature so vile and treacherous that even the gods themselves ceased to protect us, leaving us standing (blinded by our ambition) upon the abyss of annihilation, while giving us the illusion that we are, indeed, standing upon solid rock.

"Jiminy cricket, he flew the coop!"

[–] AlexanderVsSupertramp 10 years ago

leaving us standing (blinded by our ambition)

well said ...

Gentlemen, you cant fight in here! This is the War Room!

[–] Blueghost 10 years ago

I believe there's a chant in the film about one-hundred-trillion manifestations things don't change too much. And that the war among the brothers was just another event that at some time would repeat itself, and leave disaster in its wake, but also yield to knew life.

You could call it medieval Indian cosmology.

[–] spirit_30 9 years ago

Well sir ... I didn't like the ending ... didn't like it at all, but when I read yours and the other posters comments ... looking at it as symbolism ... well then that made it more understandable. But I still don't like the fact the sister was murdered. What kind of symbolism was that???

[–] hexedd 9 years ago

Glad our posts made you think on it a bit more. It's definitely a frustrating movie to watch, in the sense that you can see how it's going to turn out but the characters still keep going anyway, to their destruction. I suppose humans still do that in a lot of ways with war, etc.

Not sure about the sister...perhaps her death represented how the innocent get caught up in events and hurt or killed. The tragedy of war?

[–] zingzangspillip 9 years ago

For me, the philosophy of the film is summed up by Tango after the death of Hidetora.

"Don't cry. It's how the world is made. Men prefer sorrow over joy & suffering over peace."

I love this film, but it's so uncompromising that I hate watching it. I'm generally a very positive person, but this film depresses me.