#26 - Sancho the Bailiff (1954)

This poem was inspired by Sansho the Bailiff, a 1954 Japanese period film directed by Kenji Mizoguchi. This film is about two aristocratic children who are sold into slavery in seventeenth century Japan. That felt like too big a topic for me to tackle in 14 lines, so I got distracted by the style of the film instead… 

#26 – Stories told in monochrome 

A story told in black and white may seem

archaic. I assure you that it’s not. 

It’s history. It’s certain, like a dream;

the tones are sharper, and the patterns pop.

The shadows take a darker kind of hue – 

both literal and in symbolic sense.

Without the colours, there’s nothing to do

but focus on the plot. It’s more intense,

the gravitas seeps through the monochrome

and bathes the retinas in sombre tones.

The black and white is stark as written poems;

as stark as dampened earth and pallid bones. 

As serious as colour film can be,

these black and white constraints set stories free. 

LM 

Image via IMDB