Forty years on from its release, war film Ran continues to prove popular among movie enthusiasts and is available on the British Film Institute’s streaming service as well as Amazon Prime Video.
The film, which has been labelled by Vulture as “the greatest war movie ever made” in its latest ranking, came out in 1985 and was years in the making. Shakespeare’s King Lear tale is woven into the film’s story, which is inspired by the life of the 16th-century feudal ruler Mori Motonari. Ran’s IMDb synopsis reads: “In Medieval Japan, an elderly warlord retires, handing over his empire to his three sons. However, he vastly underestimates how the newfound power will corrupt them and cause them to turn on each other…and him.”
It is a story of one man’s horrifying regret and his tragic end, where a rush of reflection leads to humbling even the proudest of people.
The film stars Tatsuya Nakadai, Akira Terao, Jinpachi Nezu, Daisuke Ryû and was directed by Akira Kurosawa.
Kurosawa spent years developing the project and faced difficulty with funding it, which would then go on to become a big success and the most expensive Japanese movie ever made at that point.
As well as this, he faced issues with his eyesight, and then, during filming, he lost his wife to cancer.
Kurosawa poured a huge amount of himself into the film, and it became a massive technical accomplishment.
In Japanese, Ran is translated to Chaos, and this film can certainly be described as that. The film features armies of extras, massive sets were burned to the ground to depict the happenings.
Ran also made it onto Esquire’s list of the best war films ever made and ranked number 19 on Rotten Tomatoes’ 100 Best War Movies of All Time, earning a 95% audience score.
It won an Academy Award for Best Costume Design in 1986 and picked up two BAFTA awards among many other accolades. it was even described as “no doubt the best film of 1985” – high praise, indeed.
One fan described the film as “outstanding”, adding that it had “breathtaking visuals and cinematography”.
Ran is available on the BFI streaming platform and Amazon Prime Video.