High and Low (The Criterion Collection)
by Akira Kurosawa
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Kyoko Kagawa, Takashi Shimura, Tatsuya Nakadai, Toshiro Mifune, Tsutomu YamazakiDirector: Akira Kurosawa
Brand: Image Entertainment
Cinematographer: Takao Saito
Cinematographer: Choichi Nakai
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Subtitled); Japanese (Original Language)
Format: Black & White, DVD, NTSC, Special Edition, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 2.35:1
Running Time: 143 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2008-07-22
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: Criterion
Movie Reviews of High and Low (The Criterion Collection)
Movie Review: Truly Complex Social Commentary
Summary: 5 Stars
This film starts out with Gondo Kingo, a wealthy, self-made man who has risen from a humble shoe maker inside the National Shoe factory to an executive and minority owner of National Shoe (yes, that is the name, it's the English name, "National Shoe"). Having been a craftsman, Gondo wants to make sure that National Shoe will continue to make quality, well-made shoes. His fellow executives want to save money by switching to cheaply-made products that will fall apart soon. Gondo has engineered a plan to take over the company to maintain the shoe-crafting quality. To implement his plan, Gondo has mortgaged his entire fortune, including his large house that sits on top of a hill (the "High" in the title).
Right in the middle of all this, Takeuchi Ginjiro, a very angry medical intern, has engineered his own plan. He plans to kidnap Gondo's young son, Jun, and demand a huge ransom. Two of his drug-addicted coherts perform the kidnapping and Takeuchi makes the call to Gondo. The amount demanded is such that it would completely ruin Gondo if he were to pay it. He would even lose his large house, and would most likely lose his job and income. Gondo is willing to do this for his own son. However, it turns out that the kidnappers have made a mistake. They have kidnapped Shinichi, the son of Gondo's chauffeur, who is a widower of very modest means. The moral dilemma poses itself: will Gondo sacrifice his entire fortune to save the son of his chauffeur?
I don't want to "spoil" the film for viewers with the answer. However, there are many aspects that can be discussed without putting in a "spoiler." The "High" refers to Gondo's mansion, perched upon a high hill. It also refers to Gondo's position as a wealthy company executive. On the surface, the "Low" refers to the slums where poor people and drug-addicts inhabit and where the kidnapper lives and most likely comes from.
However, as it turns out, the "Low" can also refer to Gondo and his background. During the discussion about how to handle the kidnapping, he reminds his wife about how he had been born of poor and humble origins and has had to work his way up the National Shoe hierarchy by his own efforts. Gondo's background is a factor that can go well over the heads of Western viewers who aren't very familiar with Japanese culture, history, and sociology. In order to understand it, some historical aspects must be studied. The craft of shoe-making, along with other crafts involving leather has been a traditional occupation of the burakumin (outcast) sector of the population.
The burakumin, as a people (and as a political/cultural issue) come from the feudal class system, where there were samurai, farmers, artisans, and merchants. There were also two different outcast categories: hinin ("non-human"), and eta ("abundant filth"). The hinin were involved in begging, street-entertaining, and related occupations. The eta were involved in dealing with butchery, handling the dead, and making leather objects and implements (related to dead animal carcasses). People in these outcast classes were considered inferior, not quite human, ritually impure. They were forced to live in segregated neighborhoods and defer to the "normal human beings" around them. Killing an eta or a hinin was not considered a crime because they weren't considered to be "people."
During the Meiji restoration in the late 19th century, the classes were abolished. The former outcasts were supposed to be welcomed into regular society as "new commoners." Instead of being "abundant filth" or "non-human," they were referred to as "burakumin" ("hamlet people"). However, the discrimination and violence against these people continued and continues to this current day. As the years went by, the scorn and discrimination has become hidden, unmentioned, and kept out of view. Some people have said that they don't even know what a "burakumin" is, other than something that relates entirely to historical times. However, there have been secret (now-illegal) lists kept of suspected burakumin families, so that companies and marriage brokers could consult these lists and avoid hiring or marrying a person from this "outcast" class. There have been writings and studies circulated that burakumin populate most of the violent yakuza gangs and that they even cause AIDS.
Now we get back to the film, HIGH AND LOW. Even though this factor isn't explicitly mentioned, it is strongly implied that Gondo Kingo, the self-made shoe-craftsman who has risen to executive, is a member of the burakumin. He started life as a shoe-maker, a leather craftsman. In Japan, very few, if any, people who are not burakumin would enter these leather-crafting professions. No one in the film mentions the burakumin, no one calls Gondo a "burakumin" or "dirty eta" to his face -- or even openly behind his back. No one would dare. However, one can plainly see a divide between Gondo and the other executives during the entire film. So though Gondo represents the "high", he also represents the "low." There is a parallel implication that Takeuchi (the kidnapper), though coming from humble origins, is not a burakumin. So though he is the "low", he is also the "high" compared to Gondo. There are so many ironies that run through this film.
I found this film to be quite compelling. If nothing else, the film is a quality "police procedural." However, it is far more than that. The film addresses issues of individual moral choices as opposed to materialism. It also addresses issues of class, in very subtle and ironic ways; class distinctions are far more complex than simplistic "high/low" concepts.
Summary of High and Low (The Criterion Collection)
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