As the title suggests, High and Low deals a lot with class structure and it's finite importance. This film seems to say that there are times when financial success must be set aside for the compassionate preservation of endangered human life. Kingo Gondo is a high powered executive in a prestigious Japanese shoe company, and he is approached by a group of other executives who have a plan to produce different shoes that would bring in more profits. Gondo refuses, because the proposed shoes are cheaply made and fall apart easily. He kicks them out of his house and, very soon after, he gets a call saying that his son has been kidnapped for ransom. It turns out that the kidnappers accidentally kidnapped his chauffeur's son, yet they still demand the ransom.
(spoilers) Gondo has borrowed money on everything he owns (including his beautiful house), so that he can buy enough stock to own National Shoes, the company for which he works. He has compiled 50 million yen, and the kidnapper is demanding 30 million yen, an amount that will ruin Gondo's chance to own National Shoes, and will also cost him virtually everything that he owns. At first he refused to pay because it would ruin him and his family, but realizing that he would be hated by the whole country for not paying, he arranges to pay the ransom, and Shinichi, the boy who was kidnapped, is returned. Shinichi's retrieval is followed by an elaborate investigation into the kidnapping case, and the kidnapper is eventually captured and given the death sentence because, in addition to the kidnapping, he also killed three people, two of whom were accomplices in the kidnapping itself.
There is also some excellent characterization in high and Low, as is usually the case with Kurosawa's work. Kenjiro Ishiyama, the stocky, bald-headed detective, for example, isa very developed character. When we first see him, he is at Gondo's house, participating in the investigation. It almost seems that he is just a character to fill a place as an investigator, but we later learn a lot more about him. First of all, in a later scene where he is in a car with another investigator, he mentions that Gondo is a nice enough guy, even though he didn't like him when they first met. He said that he can't stand these rich people who feel like they are better than other people, but in this scene it he suggests that he has changed his mind about that. We are able to learn a bit more about him as an individual this way, but it is the scene in which Shinichi is recovered that we really see a new side of him. After the briefcases with the money are thrown out of the train, Shinichi is left by the tracks and the kidnappers take the money and flee. When Gondo and the investigators arrive to retrieve Shinichi, it is Ishiyama who, although briefly, breaks into tears upon his safe recovery. This adds a whole new level to his character that was not seen before.
Kurosawa's films are also quite often peppered with examples of irony that are significant to the meaning of the film, and High and Low is clearly no exception.
1.) Gondo fears that if he pays the ransom, he will be ruined financially and professionally, yet when he does pay it, he becomes a national hero and soon has control over a different (although smaller) shoe company which is sure to succeed because of his skyrocketing popularity.
2.)If Gondo pays the ransom, he will lose all power in National Shoes, yet when actually preparing to pay, it is his shoemaking skills that come in handy to insert a tracking device in the cases which are to carry the money.
3.) As mentioned above, the tough, bald-headed detective, who didn't even like Gondo at first, is the one to break into tears when Shinichi is safely retrieved.
Kurosawa employs a very subtle filmmaking technique in High and Low, but it was very different from his technique in Kagemusha and Ran. Here, there were many more cuts and there was a lot more motion with the camera, but this was all done in a realistic way, he did not use the camera to alter reality to any real extent. For example, there are numerous panning shots that take place in Gondo's home, but these are mainly just to follow characters as they move about. Another good example is the camerawork that is taken on the train. As they are looking out the window, there are very shaky point of view shots that are very realistic because the investigators are trying to photograph the kidnappers from the train, and this shakiness is what it would look like in real life.
Unlike Ran and Kagemusha, High and Low has a very romantic ending. As a matter of fact, most of the film is pretty highly romanticized. Three kidnappers kidnap Shinichi, they get the ransom, Gondo is glorified for his tremendous act of humanity, one kidnapper kills the other two to keep the money himself, Shinichi is returned safely, the kidnapper is eventually caught and sufficiently punished, and Gondo even gets back the vast majority of the ransom money. In the end, the kidnapper gets the death sentence, Gondo gets his money back, and Shinichi is returned safely to his father. This ending is not entirely realistic, but it is a feel good ending that is put on the movie in order to emphasize the various important messages that were communicated throughout the film. Indeed, this seems to be the only way that Kurosawa, as the director, intruded into the story to make his point, which is a characteristic of his subtle genius.
(spoilers) Gondo has borrowed money on everything he owns (including his beautiful house), so that he can buy enough stock to own National Shoes, the company for which he works. He has compiled 50 million yen, and the kidnapper is demanding 30 million yen, an amount that will ruin Gondo's chance to own National Shoes, and will also cost him virtually everything that he owns. At first he refused to pay because it would ruin him and his family, but realizing that he would be hated by the whole country for not paying, he arranges to pay the ransom, and Shinichi, the boy who was kidnapped, is returned. Shinichi's retrieval is followed by an elaborate investigation into the kidnapping case, and the kidnapper is eventually captured and given the death sentence because, in addition to the kidnapping, he also killed three people, two of whom were accomplices in the kidnapping itself.
There is also some excellent characterization in high and Low, as is usually the case with Kurosawa's work. Kenjiro Ishiyama, the stocky, bald-headed detective, for example, isa very developed character. When we first see him, he is at Gondo's house, participating in the investigation. It almost seems that he is just a character to fill a place as an investigator, but we later learn a lot more about him. First of all, in a later scene where he is in a car with another investigator, he mentions that Gondo is a nice enough guy, even though he didn't like him when they first met. He said that he can't stand these rich people who feel like they are better than other people, but in this scene it he suggests that he has changed his mind about that. We are able to learn a bit more about him as an individual this way, but it is the scene in which Shinichi is recovered that we really see a new side of him. After the briefcases with the money are thrown out of the train, Shinichi is left by the tracks and the kidnappers take the money and flee. When Gondo and the investigators arrive to retrieve Shinichi, it is Ishiyama who, although briefly, breaks into tears upon his safe recovery. This adds a whole new level to his character that was not seen before.
Kurosawa's films are also quite often peppered with examples of irony that are significant to the meaning of the film, and High and Low is clearly no exception.
1.) Gondo fears that if he pays the ransom, he will be ruined financially and professionally, yet when he does pay it, he becomes a national hero and soon has control over a different (although smaller) shoe company which is sure to succeed because of his skyrocketing popularity.
2.)If Gondo pays the ransom, he will lose all power in National Shoes, yet when actually preparing to pay, it is his shoemaking skills that come in handy to insert a tracking device in the cases which are to carry the money.
3.) As mentioned above, the tough, bald-headed detective, who didn't even like Gondo at first, is the one to break into tears when Shinichi is safely retrieved.
Kurosawa employs a very subtle filmmaking technique in High and Low, but it was very different from his technique in Kagemusha and Ran. Here, there were many more cuts and there was a lot more motion with the camera, but this was all done in a realistic way, he did not use the camera to alter reality to any real extent. For example, there are numerous panning shots that take place in Gondo's home, but these are mainly just to follow characters as they move about. Another good example is the camerawork that is taken on the train. As they are looking out the window, there are very shaky point of view shots that are very realistic because the investigators are trying to photograph the kidnappers from the train, and this shakiness is what it would look like in real life.
Unlike Ran and Kagemusha, High and Low has a very romantic ending. As a matter of fact, most of the film is pretty highly romanticized. Three kidnappers kidnap Shinichi, they get the ransom, Gondo is glorified for his tremendous act of humanity, one kidnapper kills the other two to keep the money himself, Shinichi is returned safely, the kidnapper is eventually caught and sufficiently punished, and Gondo even gets back the vast majority of the ransom money. In the end, the kidnapper gets the death sentence, Gondo gets his money back, and Shinichi is returned safely to his father. This ending is not entirely realistic, but it is a feel good ending that is put on the movie in order to emphasize the various important messages that were communicated throughout the film. Indeed, this seems to be the only way that Kurosawa, as the director, intruded into the story to make his point, which is a characteristic of his subtle genius.