RASHOMON

...continued

I recently heard David Suzuki on the radio telling the interviewer that this was his favourite film of all time. Trusting a Suzuki recommendation, I tracked the movie down at our favourite movie outlet and sat enthralled for all 89 minutes of its running.

Very simply, the film presents an incident that occurred in 11th-century Japan. However, the seeming simplicity of the incident belies the complexity of understanding it, as shown by the fact that five different people proceed to relate the events from their own perspective. As viewer, you are left at the end not knowing the truth of what really took place.

I know that once I step into the narrative frame of a film I am going to see something within the circumstances of my own life in a new light. In the case of Rashomon, it was the events unfolding in a consultation I am doing with a church that has been going through a serious conflict for a couple of years. I’ve been invited by the presbytery to talk to the various parties to the conflict and to accompany them in a way that might help them move beyond the present impasse. As I have met with each individual or group, I’ve had something of a “Rashomon” experience, hearing a number of storytellers speak about the same situation convincingly and vulnerably, and then being totally incapable of assessing what the real truth of the matter is.

It’s not that people are setting out to deceive any one in particular. It really is the case that our perception and memory of any situation is powerfully shaped by many factors, including our relationships with the lead characters, our personal history in relation to the themes and events of the situation, and the personal beliefs and ethical principles by which we live our complex lives.

I moved away from this very insightful film feeling more alert to the subjectivity of human narrative and with a new verb in my vocabulary: Have you ever been rashomoned?