Our movie journey has shown us some fantastic films this year. {read more about the cinematic odyssey project} We find ourselves in the 60s now watching sword and sandal epics and crazy Mondo films…but sandwiched between Mondo Cane and Cleopatra was this fantastic Japanese gem:
It is an incredible story of a ronin (samurai with out master) who is forbidden from committing seppuku with his lord. Instead he is ordered to take care of his daughter, son-in-law, and later grandson. What is truly incredible about the story is how successful the perceptions of the characters shifts through the film. This is the first film that I have seen from director Masaaki Kobayashi, he truly mastered the art of the imbedded story with in a story. While I love Kurosawa, (indeed he may be my favorite director) Harakiri was far more successful than the similar Rashimon at successfully shifting my sentiment for each of the characters as the story unfolds.
There was also a very apt quote from the film as my classmates and I enter our last full academic semester of school before we head to clinic:
“Swordsmanship untested in battle is like the art of swimming mastered on land.”
Clin Con V features a standardized patient at week where it will be the closes we’ve been to being ‘real PTs’ yet….I’m looking forward to sharpening my skills before we ‘head into battle’ in the summer.
A Cup A Day 