Sansho Dayu (Sansho the Bailiff)

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by Dudley Andrew

British Film Institute

Due/Published May 2000, 80 pages, paper

ISBN 0851708153

Among Mizoguchi Kenji's unquestioned masterpieces Sansho Dayu (Sansho the Bailiff, 1954) is a version of one of Japan's most famous folk-legends. When their father is exiled to a remote outpost, Anju and Zushio are forced to flee with their mother. Kidnapped, the children are separated from her and enslaved by the malevolent Sansho. Though a reunion ends the film, it is only at the most terrible human cost." "A heartbreaking tragedy in form, rooted in elemental aspects of Japanese society, Sansho Dayu is also a modern artwork made in the aftermath of World War II, which reflects on old and new values. It was responsible as much as any other film for bringing Japanese cinema to the rapt attention of Western audiences." "Dudley Andrew and Carole Cavanaugh bring out the film's cultural, aesthetic and contextual nuances. In dialogue with each other, the authors elucidate a distinctively Japanese work that nevertheless speaks of universal themes.