Conflagration (1958)

"Not everybody in Buddha's temple is as merciful as Buddha"

Despite a disclaimer at the beginning of the film that said it was not historical and that any similarity to real persons or places was coincidental, Conflagration was based on the book The Temple of the Gold Pavilion (Mishima Yukio, 1956), which was in turn inspired by the 1950 burning of the Golden Pavilion in Kyoto by a mentally disturbed monk. I have thoroughly enjoyed two of Director Ichikawa Kon’s other films adapted from real events, but this one missed the mark for me. Perhaps if I had read the book, it would have filled in the details so obviously glossed over in the film.

High school student Mizoguchi Goichi arrives at the Shukaku Pavilion after his father’s death. His father had been a monk and thought Shukaku was the most beautiful place in the world. The chief priest accepts Goichi as an apprentice much to his deputy’s chagrin. Many of the young apprentices have been drafted or killed in the war and there is real concern over who the successor to the temple will be. Goichi is awkward socially and stutters which makes him a target among the young monks. Goichi wants nothing to do with his mother and has strong feelings about who is pure enough to enter the temple. Along the way he becomes friends with a pessimistic young man with a club foot who uses his infirmity to make women feel sorry for him. Friendship between the two misfits is volatile at best. For the most part, Goichi finds no joy in anything or anyone except for the perfect and eternal pavilion.

I found the character of Goichi to be inscrutable and unlikeable and not in any compelling manner. Ichikawa Raizo VIII’s take on Goichi was so deadpan that I struggled to understand any of his motivations. The film never answered the question why the chief priest would want Goichi to be his successor, the boy was clearly emotionally imbalanced and had serious issues with people. A young Nakadai Tatsuya played the manipulative Togari with his usual energetic flair. Nakamura Ganjiro II as the head monk Dosen gave a strong performance as a monk who dove into the worldly concerns of greed and sex.

Conflagration was beautifully shot, no easy feat in black and white. Story elements felt like rocks skipping over a pond, never quite connecting or showing any depth. There was no suspense to the film as it began almost at the end, after Goichi has burned the temple. The movie failed to explain his obsession with the temple and his complicated feelings regarding beauty and purity. Events occurred that were never fleshed out nor had any emotional consequences. The one likeable character disappeared midway through the story like a puff of smoke. By the last third of the film, I was ready for Goichi to find his book of matches and free me from this conflagration.

9 June 2025

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