Akira Kurosawa's Throne of Blood

Akira Kurosawa's Throne of Blood is a version of Shakespeare's Macbeth, and the film follows the play in general terms until the end. An examination of the opening scenes and the last scene shows how the filmmaker has approached the material and what changes he has made to achieve a somewhat different effect from the original play while remaining true to its spirit.

The opening scenes in Macbeth set the stage with a sense of doom and foreboding as well as an overlay of the supernatural. In the first scene, the three witches appear amid thunder and lightning and cast a spell over the proceedings. In the second scene, the exposition is managed as messengers deliver the battle news to King Duncan. It is in the third scene where the character of Macbeth is introduced and where the three witches set the tone for the rest of the play. Indeed, their pronouncement that Macbeth will be king is what tempts him (and his wife) to speed the process by killing Duncan.

The witches are on stage, again in a thunderstorm, as the scene begins. They again evoke a sense of the supernatural and through their dialogue show that they are engaged in what might be called witchly pursuits. There is also something slightly comical about the way the witches speak among themselves, as can be seen when the first witch explains where she has been:

A sailor's wife had chestnuts in her lap

And mounch'd and mounch'd and mounch'd (I.iii.4-5).

When the witches hear a drum some distance away, they i

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around them. The howling of the spirit in the trees frightens them and makes them ride even faster, swords drawn as if to ward off the evil surrounding them. This sequence has increasing kinetic energy as the riders move through small openings in the trees until they are stopped by the hut. The kinetic action of their ride contrasts sharply with the sudden stillness as they stand and warily watch the old woman spinning as she sins softly to herself. The other-worldly nature of the woman is emphasized by this abrupt shift in tone--this is a spirit different from the howling spirit of the woods, but a spirit nonetheless. The way the soldiers stand and watch her shows them to be wary, uncertain, and fearful. They move around in front of the hut, and the camera looks past them to the old woman in the center of the frame, with the dark figures of Miki and Washizu on either side. The contrast of light and dark adds to the distance between the soldiers and the witch--the soldiers are dressed in dark clothing and are also seen against the backdrop of the dark woods, while the witch is deliberately over-lit and dressed in light clothing. The pool of bright light creates an aura around the witch that sets her apart from the dark wo

Category: Film - A