Life of Oharu

It's been forever since I've done a movie review on this blog you are reading.  So, while I wait for the men's Ice Hockey event to get underway (it begins tomorrow at noon), today is a good chance to get a movie in, and as you can see from the picture, today's selection is Life of Oharu.

The basic plot of the movie follows Oharu's descent from lady-in-waiting to streetwalker in 17th century Japan.  The movie begins with Oharu having an unsuccessful run as a streetwalker, and from there, the viewer is treated to a lengthy flashback that starts from the lady-in-waiting phase of her life.  It is there that things begin to go wrong for her and her family, as she is caught with a page, and in that time period, a higher up could not be seen mingling with a lower class.  Because of that, she gets banished with her family to another town while the page simply gets beheaded.  From there, Oharu has unsuccessful stints as a concubine to an Emperor, a courtesan, servant, nun, and streetwalker.  Even when she finds happiness, as she does when she marries a fan maker, that doesn't last, as he gets killed by a robber soon thereafter.

Life of Oharu is a thoroughly depressing movie that touches on class rigidity and gender issues.  Throughout the movie, the viewer sees Oharu having to be dependent on the male for any level of success and failure to do so only serves to complicate her living situation.  The movie paces itself fairly well, but provides little in the way of excitement (for those who only seek such things).  It is also a movie that provides a different view of Japan from the normal Samurai fare that dominated the Japanese movie scene in the 1950's.  Ultimately, Life of Oharu peels the curtain back on an era that is typically romanticized with acts of bravery and courage and does so in a manner that demystifies the era in ways similar to Seven Samurai.