Gender Gap Evident in IMDB votes....
Take note of the demographic breakdown of the votes on IMBD for this film. There is a distinct gender gap between male and female voters. Males seem to prefer the film more than females by a considerable margin. I find it very interesting that a director once deemed "feminist" in his outlook should be less appreciated by modern female viewers. I think sister Anju's decision to sacrifice her life for her brother is the primary reason, plus the fact that Mizoguchi seemed to feel that women were the patient sufferers of male injustice who transcended their suffering by sacrificing themselves. So I suppose that this should be no surprise. I think it interesting to note how perceptions change across time and cultures. Sansho the Bailiff is not deemed an enlightened view of women by today's standards.
Nonetheless, it is a great film, and in many ways Mizoguchi should be praised as a pioneer in world cinema of films focusing on women's issues, long before the term "women's lib" existed in Japan cinema (or the U.S. cinema for that matter). He paved the way for later directors such as Bergman, Cassavettes and Amoldovar who pushed the boundaries much further. Mizoguchi should at least be given credit for even bothering to understand women at all, especially for a Japanese man of that time period. At least he didn't basically ignore women as Kurosawa did (one of Kurosawa's only major flaws as a director, really). Mizoguchi was sympathetic to women and at least made an honest attempt to deal with the issue as best he knew how. It was a baby step by today's standards, but for it's time a huge break with the past for both Japanese and world cinema.
Perhaps today's female viewers should cut the film a break and appreciate the many other beauties of this film, which have not dated and never will. I feel that the beautiful theme of mercy is incredibly timeless, even today, and that this makes up for any criticisms of Mizoguchi's view of feminism, regardless of whether that judgement is considered fair or not. Ultimately the theme of this film is even bigger than the plight of women, and in fact the feminist theme flows from the mercy and justice theme. The fact that Mizoguchi made the brohter Zushio (through the example of his father before him) an anachronistic voice for modern social justice at a time in feudal Japan when no such values really existed was just as revolutionary and modern (in a more subtle way) as Kurosawa's more known and celebrated "humanist" films such as Ikiru and Seven Samurai. Both directors were examining the theme of individual versus group values in Medeival and (by analogy) modern Japan, and how to achieve social justice in the new Japan of the 1950's. Both directors were questioning the feudal and Confucian values of Japan's past (and implicitly the then-recent catastrophe of World War II as well). Kurosawa however took a strictly male perspective (with the execption of his early film No Regrets from Our Youth), whereas Mizoguchi prefered the female perspective almost always. Later in his life Kurosawa became pessimistic about people's ability to make such changes through individual or group action. It is unknown what evolution Mizoguchi's films would have undergone as he died only a few short years after this film.
It should be noted that the sister Anju is the catalyst for her brother's decision to re-embrace the values of mercy and social justice of their father:
"Without Mercy
Man is like a beast
Even if you are hard on yourself
Be merciful to others."
Zushio redeems himself from his past lapses from his father's teachings only because Anju gives him the opportunity to escape (and save a sick women left to die in the mountains in the process). Anju actually save not one but two people through her actions, not to mention the liberation of the slaves. Zushio is eventually able to frees the slaves, and in doing so sacrifices his own political future. Further, Zushio was risking his life not just his job to fulfill his father's teachings. I believe he would have gone that far if the need arose. Many powerful people were against him and he had no way of knowing how things would end for him by rebelling against his assigned role and duties (a dangerous career move in Medeival Japan). The fact that he was not killed was just a lucky break. I don't think Mizoguchi's intent was to portray women as sacrificial sheep, he just wanted to give them the same capacity to sacrifice for others that only men were allowed in Japanese films up until Mizoguchi's work. True, Anju kills herself, but it is to increase the likelihood of Zushio's escape, and not just throwing her life away for nothing.
In a sense, both Anju and Zushio sacrifice themselves for their belief in mercy and justice. If both of them had been killed the story would have been just too tragic to take. Conversely, if they both had lived the story would have been less haunting and powerful, wouldn't it? I don't think you can really argue with the dramatic logic of the film. Mizoguchi offered no sentimental or happy ending, but that doesn't mean it was a nihilistic film either, just very true to the real world. The painful truth is that sacrifices have to be made for freedom and mercy to flourish. Like Martin Luther King, Anju had seen the promised land but could not make it there with Zushio. Why wouldn't women even today not want to claim sisterhood with such a beautiful spirit as her's? What a heartbreaking and beautiful film!