Japanese film brimming with action that incisively examines the nature of truth and the philosophy of justice. Through an ingenious use of camera and flashbacks, the complexities of human nature are revealed as a bandit (Toshiro Mifune), a murdered samurai (Masayuki Mori), his wife Masago (Machiko Kyo), and a woodcutter (Takashi Shimura) recount different versions of the story of the samurai's murder and the rape of his wife. Told as flashbacks and as a flashback within a flashback, the stories individually unfold, yet none are consistent with each other. No one person recalls the whole series of events and all stories mutually contradictory, leaving the viewer unable to determine the truth of the events.