HIGH AND LOW (1963)
Japan, directed by Akira Kurosawa



High and Low (Japanese title translates as Heaven and Hell), is simultaneously about many things. On the surface, the title refers to the emotional roller coaster ride that the main chracter, Kingo Gondo(played by the great Toshiro Mifune) goes through when his chauffeur's son is kidnapped and is demanded to pay an enormous ransom. The title also refers to the geographic setting, contrasting Gondo's palatial house on the top of the mountain (the setting for the entire first half of the movie) and the sizzling slum in the harbor of Yokohama (where the second part of the movie takes place), on which Gondo looks down from his high place. Lastly, the title is refered to in the final scene, in which the condemned kidnapper expresses his fear to Gondo that he might go to heaven instead of hell. Likewise, the story takes three different dimension as a thriller, social commentary on wealth and poverity, and moral commentary on good and evil.

A short summary of plot is as follows. A wealthy shoe-manufacturer, Kingo Gondo has just mortgaged everything to raise 50 million yen to launch an office intrigue that will give him the total control of the firm, but just at this critical moment, receives a call from a kidnapper that his son is kidnapped. As he decides to pay the ransom of 30 million yen, it is found that actually his chauffeur's son is kidnapped. At first, Gondo refuses to pay the ransom, but finally gives away his fortune, which gives him public admiration but results in bankrupcy. After much investigation through the slums of Yokohama, police captures the kidnapper. The kidnapper, who has murdered his accomplice, is setenced to death and few hours before execution, confronts Gondo and blames his wealth for his crime.

As a thriller, this is a first-rate fare that will please many though some may feel the first part is too static and second part too detailed. Even though the first part of the film takes place almost entirely in the confines Gondo's living room, camera movement and placement of chracters as they move to and fro (mise-en-scene), are so skillful that our interest does not bog down. In the second part, we are shown the details of police work as they track down the kidnapper, which was very reminiscent of Fritz Lang's movie, M. Both the kidnapping and investigation are carried out intelligently and as the clues are discovered one by one (one of them in fact with blurt of color in this otherwise b&w film. Remember Schindler's List?), we discover the millieu of the "low/hell" slum in stark contrast to the "high/heaven" residence of Gondo.
Should he pay and ruin himself to save the chauffer's son? This is also an intense internal thriller as we watch Gondo agonizing over how far his responsibility extends. He is confined in his living room, under costant eyes of police and entreating chauffeur and family. He is mostly shown either surrounded by all these people or cornered to the curtained, claustrophobic living room.

Gondo's moral dilemma is very engrossing one, as we watch him coming closer to the final decision little by little. In the very beginning, Gondo appears as someone who once had a high degree of integrity, which was eroding in the dog-eat-dog world of corporate intrigue. He is still sincere enough to care about the quality of his products, which is the reason why he wants to kick out other profit-hungry executives. But he is not above resorting to the their means, and this cynicism is apparent in his advice to his son about how to play an outlaw. This remark prompts his wife to worry that his attitude to life has changed. At first, he absolutely refuses to pay the ransom. However, in this crisis, the deep humanity that has since laid dormant in him arises as he, after much torment, comes to the decision to pay the random. By the end of the film, when he confronts the man who tormented him so much, Gondo has reached the understanding that he must accept resonsibility not only for his chauffeur's son but even for the kidnapper and social condition that creates antagonism between himself and the kidnapper. In not many films do we see such deep character change as that of Gondo. And we also see poignantly how his action affects his chauffeur, wife, detectives, and the kidnapper.

But this movie is not simply a morality play. The above mentioned contrast of Gondo's residence and Yokohama slumb is where the major theme of the movie - the extents and limits of moral responsibility - ties in. Morally speaking, is he responsible for chauffeur's son in the way he's responsible for his own son? Is he resonsible for the social condition that the industrialization (of which Gondo is important part) has produced? And finally, is he responsible for the crime of another man, yet another product of this social condition, even if it is committed against him? The world that the movie portrays is grim, indeed. Gondo is financially ruined. And the kidnapper? When the kidnapper asks Gondo if he's happy that he's going to be executed, he expected the answer in the affirmative. And it was for this affirmation that he was evil that he requested to meet Gondo. When he finds that Gondo does not hate him, the kidnapper is suddenly unsure. He feels that he might not go to hell and shudders at the idea of going to heaven. The good and evil is not so simple in this industrial world, where the contrast between the rich and the poor is as great as heaven and hell.


Reviewed by Ilian


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