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Brian_Brooklyn's avatar

I watched RAN on screen just last week, and saw it first in 1985 on Opening Night of the New York Film Festival.

I would note that RAN is his most Buddhist film, and not his bleakest. The final shot of the scroll depicting Amida--the Buddha of Infinite Light and Life--is heartening. The continuing embrace of Amida is signified by the fact that, while where the scroll fell allows for no direct light to reach it, the scroll is not portrayed in darkness.

The beauty and hope in RAN resides in how Kurosawa lays out his Buddhist analysis. He does not pull punches about the cruelty human beings can inflict on one another, but also clearly demonstrates the path and decisions that lead to such harms.

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