Plot: What was the movie about? Was it believable? Interesting? Thought-provoking?

How
was the climax revealed? How did the setting affect the story?
A woodcutter and a priest are seated beneath the impressive gate into the city of Rashomon as
a means of protection against the rain when a common appears. He joins them beneath gate
and the two immediately launch into telling him about the distressing story they witnessed. The
woodcutter discovered the body of a murdered samurai three days ago and the priest confirms
having seen the samurai traveling with his wife earlier that day. Upon being summoned to court
to bear witness, the police arrive with a bandit in custody who had confessed to the murder.
This framing device paves the way for flashbacks that give each of the participants a chance to
offer their own subjective version of what took place.
The Bandit’s Tale:
The bandit proves to be a notorious outlaw and his story is one involving tricking the samurai
to veer off the mountain trail with the enticement of ancient swords. Once he got the samurai
into the grove, he tied him to a tree and then fetched the man’s wife. While she valiantly
attempted to defend herself with the use of small dagger, the bandit ultimately succeeded in
what he terms a seduction. Afterward, overcome with guilt and shame, she begged the bandit
to challenge her husband to a duel to death in order to avoid the presence of two men who bore
witness to her dishonour. The bandit claims gallantry by agreeing to this demand and the claims
that the samurai’s death was therefore not murder but an honourable defeat in battle. The
woman then ran away into the woods. At the conclusion of his tale, the court inquires about
that expensive dagger which was left behind. He explains that he simply forgot about amid all
the confusion and pleads to being foolish in allowing such a valuable prize to escape his greedy
grasp.

The Wife’s Tale:

The samurai’s wife also appears in court, but her version is markedly different. She claims that
the seduction was, in fact, rape and that afterward the bandit simply left. She went to her
husband and begged for forgiveness, but received only cold silence. Releasing him from his
bondage to the tree, she begged her husband to put her at peace by killing her. Again, the
samurai merely stares with disgust and hatred. This expression so distressed the woman that
she fainted with the dagger still in her grip. Upon coming back to consciousness, her husband
lay dead with the dagger sticking from his chest. Her attempt to commit suicide failed.
The priest and the woodcutter then tell the stranger beneath the gate with them that the
testimony of the dead samurai was even heard. This was accomplished through the intervention
of a medium through whom the spirt of the dead samurai related his version.
The Samurai’s Tale:
The samurai explains through the medium that after raping his wife, the bandit asked her to go
off with him. She agrees and then begs to kill her husband. That way she can absolve herself
of the guilt of belonging to different men. The bandit, appalled by this display, grabbed her and
offered the samurai the choice of whether she lived or died. It was this offer that moved the
samurai to feel compassionate enough to pardon him. Meanwhile, the wife runs away and after
failing to catch up to her, the bandit returned and set the samurai free. He then took up his
wife’s dagger and killed himself. Somebody later removed the dagger.
The Woodcutter’s Story

After the trial, the story returns to the city gate where the woodcutter tells the common that
every one of the accounts told at the trial were lies. He knows this because he witnessed
everything, but never came forward with everything knew because he just didn’t want to get
involved. The woodcutter explains that the bandit pleaded with the wife to marry him, but
instead she chose to set her husband free. The reason the husband was not willing to fight the
bandit is because he could not see the wisdom in risking his own life for that of a spoiled
woman like his wife. The woman then upgraded both her husband the bandit with
incriminations challenging their manhood. In fact, she had incited the men to fight over her
only to cover her face once they raised swords to each other. Both men reluctantly fought the
other, resulting in a duel far less honourable than that described. The only reason that the bandit
emerged victorious was the result of a lucky stroke that left the samurai begging for his life on
the ground before the bandit ran his sword through him. This caused the woman to flee in
terror. The bandit, failing to catch up to her, instead grabbed the samurai’s sword and limped
away.
Following the woodcutter’s story, all three hear the sound of a mewling baby. They discover a
basket with the baby inside. The commoner steals a kimono and amulet that was left behind
for the baby. The woodcutter confronts the commoner over the theft from a defenceless infant,
but the commoner turns the table on the woodcutter when he realizes that the real reason for
his silence in court was that he was the one who took the missing dagger. The commoner takes
his leave on the expression of a philosophy that every man is only motivated by his own self-
interest.
The priest holds the baby, overcome by a sudden lack of faith in the goodness of man. The
woodcutter reaches for the baby and the priest back off, suddenly suspicious of the other’s
intent. The woodcutter allays his fears by asserting that since he has six children of his own
already, one more will hardly matter. This information suddenly changes every assumption
about the woodcutter’s in the mind of the priest and thus restores his believe in the goodness
of humankind.