The Ballad of Narayama
The rules in the village are simple. When a person turns 70, they must go to Narayama mountain and wait for death at its peak. “The Ballad of Narayama” is about an elderly woman who is nearing the end of her life but wishes to complete her family’s unfinished tasks before she leaves for the mountaintop. Most of this work involves finding wives for her sons.
This sounds like humanism mixed with anthropology, or one version of Woman in the Dunes (1964) dealing with death but it doesn’t come close to conveying how passionate this movie is: darker and bloodier than described, more terrifying still. Shohei Imamura directed it; his films explore how we pass laws meant to govern our deepest impulses, then are driven by those same desires into breaking them.
We see many years ago a poor mountain village beautiful postcard settings where raw, difficult lives are lived. Barefoot field workers plow land that produces just enough potatoes and rice to barely feed themselves; everybody knows everybody else’s business.
So does particularly the old mother of most important families. Tireless, stubborn willful she is. Her sons need wives so she finds one a new widow from across the valley and shares favorite recipes and secret places in rivers where fish may be caught with bare hands. But this new wife doesn’t turn out quite as desirable as expected.
Meanwhile another son creeps around town eavesdropping on conversations held by local villagers who all happen to hate him equally due to his foul odor and unkempt appearance. until he overhears something interesting: A dying man told his wife she should sleep with every man in town at least once before she dies too! This seems like an opportunity for him but wait! The dead husband returns as a butterfly warning against such behavior!
Another boy sleeps with his neighbor’s daughter resulting pregnancy only after being caught stealing by neighbors which leads us into possibly strongest scene ever filmed when entire family gets buried alive together because father was revealed thief
Just before “Narayama” ends oldest son takes old mother up top mountain . She isn’t sick nor about die yet still demands take me there now type person
“The Ballad Of Narayama,” won grand prize Cannes but isn’t very likely hit even among art film circuit too reflective unflinching face cruelty too Japanese therefore even more interesting experience.
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