The Ballad of Narayama (Narayama Bushiko) review

To any analytical thinker with even a cursory understanding of evolution it stands to reason that we as humans are just a small step above animals, driven by instinct and the will to survive. So it begs the question: are ideals like civility, respect, honor, and even love—often collectively referred to as our “humanity”—directly proportionate to how cushy our lives are? In other words, are we only capable of luxuries like love and caring when we’ve grown accustomed to being safe and well-fed or are they intrinsic human values we can suppress when need be? For the first 90 minutes of The Ballad of Narayama, director Shohei Imamura would seem to be trying to prove the former with various scenes of comical-yet-disturbing emotionless sex, greed, and even murder edited together not-so-subtly with scenes of animals procreating, eating each other, and killing. But toward the end of the film the tone shifts and a seemingly heartless death ritual becomes the ultimate example of love and sacrifice.

The film is set in a remote mountain village in the north where food is extremely scarce and each family has to work cooperatively with their fellow villagers to make sure there’s enough of it to go around. In this environment unchecked reproduction is considered a shameful, selfish act and it’s not uncommon for unwanted babies to be discarded as trash. Extra sons that actually survive are referred to as “yakko” and are considered second-class citizens for their entire lives, never to take a wife. Daughters hold more value, but are routinely traded away to the local salt vendor out of necessity.

Due to the overabundance of mouths to feed and the tendency of the elderly to become sick, weak, and useless an ancient ritual exists in the village by which anyone who reaches the age of 70 are carried to the peak of Mt. Nara by their closest male relative to meet the mountain god and be reunited with lost loved ones. Orin (Sumiko Sakamoto) is 69 when the film begins, and is actually looking forward to the following winter when her son Tatsuhei (Ken Ogata) will carry her up the mountain. However, she has a whole lot of work to do before then to make sure her family is prepared to survive without her. During this year we see her set her eldest son up with a burly homemaker, pimp out her fellow elderly friend to her adopted yakko son to quell his mounting sexual frustration, and even coldly orchestrate the murder of her second son’s pregnant wife to further lessen the future burden on the family.

When it finally comes time for Tatsuhei and Orin to make the trip up the mountain the unspoken question is whether this is actually a spiritual quest at all or simply a murder of convenience. Orin seems to somehow know the answer already, but Tatsuhei has to learn along the way. Several poignant scenes cleverly peel away layers to reveal the truth before eventually leaving a sliver of room open for interpretation. These subtle moments of revelation, as well as the climb itself really made up for other parts of the movie that ranged anywhere from slightly disturbing to downright gross.

Frankly, there’s nothing more depressing to me than realistic depictions of dehumanizing acts (or real-life dehumanizing acts for that matter) because on some level I hold out hope that our species is somehow more than the sum of its DNA sequence. But in the end what I take away from “The Ballad of Narayama” is that instead of rigidly clinging to ideals that have only become realistic within the past 100 or so years of our existence, we should instead be grateful for the small moments of genuine love that actually mean something in life. Imamura gets this message across with such unflinching bluntness and honesty that it forces you to face some harsh realities you may not want to face. But ultimately, like Tatsuhei eventually figures out, you’d be better off if you did.

Watch trailer

Availability: US distributor AnimEigo released "The Ballad of Narayama" on region 1 DVD with English subtitles on June 10, 2008. Picture is very clean and the new optional cultural captions really come in handy in understanding everything that's going on. For full specs, see this link.

Tags