Souls on the Road

Souls on the Road (Rojō no Reikon), directed by Minoru Murata and released in 1921, is one of Japan’s most remembered silent films and is often seen as an early step toward a distinctly Japanese cinematic style.

When his career as a violinist ends in disgrace after collapsing on stage in the capital, Koichiro returns on foot to his mountain village with his wife and daughter. At a snowy forest crossroads along the way, they are accosted by a pair of recently released convicts. One is lame, the other tubercular; both are dejected and desperate. They attempt to rob the weary family, but, seeing how poorly off they are, the family instead offers them a piece of bread before the men limp off in another direction.

Koichiro arrives at the village on Christmas Eve, only to be rejected by his father. The two ex-convicts are later discovered by the master of another house, likely after trying to sneak inside to escape the approaching storm. At rifle point, he forces them to take turns beating each other with a switch.

Koichiro’s daughter falls ill with a fever, yet his father shows no mercy, driving the family out into the harsh weather. They take shelter in a barn while a lively Christmas party unfolds in a nearby house, lavishly decorated for the occasion. The revelers’ joy, streamers swaying as they dance, is set in stark contrast to the suffering of the feverish wife and daughter, their heads framed by cold, lifeless strands of hay.

Toward the end, a young boy and girl, the former consistently diligent and the latter naïvely self-indulgent, come upon a body in the snow. For a brief moment, their otherwise fixed natures give way to reflection. What if the master of the house had shown mercy? What if the father had shown compassion? A quote from Maxim Gorky on compassion and missed opportunity closes the film.

Souls on the Road is visually striking in its storytelling, in the emotional depth of its characters, and in its depiction of rural life, as well as in its blend of traditional and Western clothing. The storm’s intensity is vividly rendered, along with ghostlike visions that fade in and out, and, somewhat unexpectedly, even Santa Claus. Though touched with sentimentality, it never becomes overly sentimental. Murata offers a relatively straightforward telling of the lost sheep, here the prodigal son and the marginalized, set against the inhumanity of the merciless and those who turn away.

Santa Claus appearance in Souls on the Road (1921)