Castle of Owls
Year: 1963
Director: Eiichi Kudo
Rating: 8.0/10
This debut from director Eiichi Kudo is
considered one of the finest ninja films made and though I don't know enough
to make that judgement, it is a terrific film; very classic in its feel,
music, style and acting. The many action scenes are so graceful in the movement
of the actors and the camera that effortlessly tracks them. Being made in
1963, I am curious whether this - or similar films - influenced King Hu in
his style of filming action. It has a similarity in the jumps, action cuts
and the fluidity and in how the camera captures it. Eiichi was to go on and
make 13 Assassins as the first in a highly regarded trilogy in the same year.
It helps to know a little bit of Japanese
history to follow the film because a lot of characters and names are thrown
at us very quickly. I zipped on to Wikipedia to get some basic background
information. The period in which the film takes place is towards the end
of the Sengoku period (1467 - 1600), a time of unrest in which civil wars
were a constant ongoing concern - Lords fighting for power and land. Toyotomi
Hideyoshi who came from very poor origins worked his way up to power and
began defeating all the power centers in an effort to unite Japan. He basically
succeeded by the time he died in 1600, where upon the Tokugawa Shogunate
began that lasted until 1868. In the many battles that Hideyoshi fought one
of the weapons utilized by all factions were ninjas. In particular, the ninjas
from the Iga and Koga clans - named after the area where they lived and trained.
They sometimes fought side by side, sometimes against one another - they
were paid assassins and spies to the highest bidder.
The film begins with a bloody battle in
which the forces of Hideyoshi has overrun the defenses of the Iga Clan and
is slaughtering one and all including women and children. This forces the
remaining clan to disband and flee throughout Japan, but not before Juzo
(Ryutaro Otomo, who was in loads of samurai films), whose parents have been
killed and his sister raped before she kills herself, to swear vengeance
to kill Hideyoshi. Jump forward ten years and Juzo is still trying.
A merchant funds Juzo to continue trying
because he worries that if Hideyoshi invades Korea as he is threatening it
will destroy his trading business. Hideyoshi did in fact invade Korea as
a passageway to attack China twice; unsuccessfully. Juzo gathers other members
of the Iga Clan and plots the assassination. In his way though is the Koga
Clan who have allied themselves with the government, an ex-member of the
Iga Clan who has other ambitions and a lovely kunoichi (female ninja) who
is with the Koga Clan. She (Hizuru Takachiho) can't decide though whether
to love Juzo or kill him - "I want to hurt you and see you bleed. And then
tend to you." The interaction between the two clans of ninjas is fascinating
- almost incestuous as they all know one another, respect one another but
have to kill each other. This creates a strong degree of frisson that pulls
the viewer in emotionally and gives the film a center of gravity.
