Ran film: Encyclopedia II - Ran film - Plot

Ran film - Plot

In the film, the King Lear character is replaced with Ichimonji Hidetora, the Great Lord, an aging warlord. In place of Lear's daughters, Hidetora has three sons - Taro, Jiro, and Saburo (who fulfill the equivalent roles of Goneril, Regan and Cordelia respectively). Hidetora decides to give control of his kingdom up to Taro, the eldest son, while Jiro and Saburo will be given the Second and Third Castles. Jiro and Saburo are to support Taro. However, Saburo criticizes Hidetora's plan, claiming that he is a fool to think they will be able to get along peacefully. Tango, one of Hidetora's servants, comes to Saburo's defense. Hidetora banishes both of them. (Tango being the equivalent of the Earl of Kent in Lear).

Eventually Hidetora is alienated from his sons, and he is forced to live alone with Tango and Kyoami, the fool. Jiro conquers Taro, and is then himself conquered by a rival warlord who has aligned himself with Saburo. In the end, Hidetora is reunited with Saburo, but Saburo is killed by one of Jiro's gunmen, and Hidetora dies of grief.

The film also involves many intricate subplots involving betrayal and violence within families, and highlighting the vanity and falseness of courtly life.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Plot", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki