TEHRAN-The 1963 Japanese crime film “Heaven and Hell,” also known as “High and Low,” directed by Akira Kurosawa will be screened at the cinematheque of the Iranian Artists Forum on Monday.

After the movie screening at 5 p.m., it will be reviewed at a session with the presence of the movie critic Ali Alaei, ILNA reported.

starring Toshiro Mifune, Tatsuya Nakadai and Kyōko Kagawa, the film is loosely based on the 1959 novel “King's Ransom” by Ed McBain (Evan Hunter), which was inspired by the increasing number of kidnapping cases in Japan in the early 1960s.

The story is about an executive of a Yokohama shoe company, who becomes a victim of extortion when his chauffeur's son is kidnapped by mistake and held for ransom.

In the movie, a bungled kidnapping leads to the protagonist’s deep crisis of conscience. Wealthy Kingo Gondo (Toshiro Mifune) has to decide whether or not to pay the ransom demanded by a kidnapper who intended to abduct Gondo’s son but has taken his chauffeur’s son by mistake.

For many Japanese, the punishment for kidnapping under Japanese law seemed too lenient, an opinion shared by a number of characters in the film. This crime-genre aspect is emphasized in the film’s third and final part, which resembles a police procedural in its hunt for the kidnapper, who has also murdered his two accomplices and a third person. 

However, High and Low is less concerned with crime investigation and legal problems than with moral questions and human behavior. The search for the criminal creates moments of high suspense, but it is the latent tension permeating the film that makes it outstanding.

It will be the 558th program of the IAF cinematheque, which is dedicated to the screening of the famous films from Iran and the world.

The Iranian Artists Forum is situated at Artists Park on North Mousavi Street, Taleqani Street.
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