One of the most-celebrated passages of Akira Kurosawaâs Rashomon is a sequence near the beginning of one of the main characters, the Woodcutter, walking through
One of the most-celebrated passages of Akira Kurosawa’s Rashomon is a sequence near the beginning of one of the main characters, the Woodcutter, walking through the woods, axe slung over shoulder, camera moving as he does. In his book The Warrior’s Camera, for example, Stephen Prince claims this sequence is “the most striking” part of the film, composed of “among the most sensuous moving camera shots in cinema history,” and possessing a “hypnotic power.” Many other film writers follow suit. Read an online review of Rashomon and it’s a good bet the Woodcutter’s walk will be mentioned, with special emphasis on its vaguely-defined technical polish (and, as you’ll find in Roger Ebert’s review, the precise breaking of one “taboo”: shooting into the sun) and the mesmerizing power it has on the viewer.
This landmark film is a brilliant exploration of truth and human weakness. It opens with a priest, a woodcutter, and a peasant taking refuge from a downpour beneath a ruined gate in 12th-century Japan. The priest and the woodcutter, each looking stricken, discuss the trial of a notorious bandit for rape and murder. As the retelling of the trial unfolds, the participants in the crime — the bandit (Toshiro Mifune), the rape victim (Machiko Kyo), and the murdered man (Masayuki Mori) — tell their plausible though completely incompatible versions of the story. In the bandit’s version, he and the man wage a spirited duel after the rape, resulting in the man’s death. In the woman’s testimony, she is spurned by her husband after being raped. Hysterical with grief, she kills him. In the man’s version, speaking through the lips of a medium, the bandit beseeches the woman after the rape to go away with him. She insists that the bandit kill her husband first, which angers the bandit. He spurns her and leaves. The man kills himself. Seized with guilt, the woodcutter admits to the shocked priest and the commoner that he too witnessed the crime. His version is equally feasible, although his veracity is questioned when it is revealed that he stole a dagger from the crime scene. Just as all seems bleak and hopeless, a baby appears behind the gate. The commoner seizes the moment and steals the child’s clothes, while the woodcutter redeems himself and humanity in the eyes of the troubled priest, by adopting the infant. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi
Nothing is new anymore, and that’s sad.
Madonna is at the top of the Billboard charts, “Titanic” may be the highest-grossing movie of the week and “The Mummy,” “Twins,” “Dumb and Dumber,”“Summer School,” “Anchorman,” “Top Gun,” “Grown Ups,” “Total Recall”, “Avatar” and even “Phantom of the Opera” are either getting sequels, being remade or simply being re-released.
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One ArtThe art of losing isn't hard to master; so many things seem filled with the intent to be lost that their loss is no disaster. Lose something every day. Accept the fluster of lost door keys, the hour badly spent. The art of losing isn't hard to master. Then practice losing farther, losing faster: places, and names, and where it was you meant to travel. None of these will bring disaster. I lost my mother's watch. And look! my last, or next-to-last, of three loved houses went. The art of losing isn't hard to master. I lost two cities, lovely ones. And, vaster, some realms I owned, two rivers, a continent. I miss them, but it wasn't a disaster. --Even losing you (the joking voice, a gesture I love) I shan't have lied. It's evident the art of losing's not too hard to master though it may look like (Write it!) like disaster.— Elizabeth Bishop
When you live in a poor neighborhood, you are living in an area where you have poor schools. When you have poor schools, you have poor teachers. When you have poor teachers, you get a poor education. When you get a poor education, you can only work in a poor-paying job. And that poor-paying job enables you to live again in a poor neighborhood. So, it’s a very vicious cycle.
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| — | Malcolm X (via warriorsrise) |
Me gustaria hacer el amor como los hipopotamos
“Sí, es feo, tosco, da la impresion de la brutalidad, pero, en realidad es muy delicado. Me emociona esa contradiccion. Además, practica el sexo con gran convicción. La vida sexual de los hipopotamos, aunque esto parezca un juego cortazariano requiere elaboracion, en una vida muy refinada. Si algun animal practica el erotismo, este es, sin dudas, el hipopotamo, que goza haciendo el amor”.
-Mario Vargas Llosa
Desarrollo Humano, una cuestión de poder
No hay razones para suponer que las instituciones políticas y las relaciones de poder vayan a cambiar de manera espontánea. Si la sociedad no se organiza, se empodera, se moviliza y reestructura las relaciones de poder no habrá desarrollo humano, porque el desarrollo humano es una cuestión de poder.
