252 Quiz Answer

Rashomon ,is a famous Japanese drama film directed by Akira Kurosawa.  The film is known for a plot device which involves various characters providing alternative, self-serving and contradictory versions of the same incident.

(Also for Three Word Wedesday and ABC Wednesday: "Z" is for "zany")

 I wrote the following scenelet, thinking it might remind you of a famous motion picture of a few decades ago.  A Japanese movie, it has come to be regarded as one of the masterpieces of film history.   What is its name?

“Sit down, Sarge.  Take a load off.  You deserve a rest.”

“Well, it has been a lot of work.”

“This past month you’ve been working night and day.  But you got him!  Great police work - and more important, you got him to confess.”

“I’ll feel better when they got him locked up for good.  When’s the trial scheduled?”

“Who cares?  The trial will mean nothing.  He admits he committed the murder.  The trial will be just a formality.”

“Captain, you understand – there are other witnesses who want to be heard.”

“Yeah.  A complete waste of time.  We got the guy who did it and he admits he did it, but they’ll be spending hours of trial time listening to some passionate dimwits tell what they saw or think they saw.”

“They might screw up the case – you know, raise doubt and so on.”

“Again, who cares?  We got a confession!  That beats pretty much anything anyone else might say.”

“I hate to admit it, but I’m not quite as sure about this as you are.  It’s a strange case, even kind of zany.”

“Zany?  What kind of talk is that!  Sarge, relax, it’s open and shut, I’m telling you.  Don’t go looking for an electric switch when there isn't any.”

“Have you studied all the aspects of this case?”

“Of course.  You think I don’t do my job?  True, there’s a ton of paperwork but I read through a lot of it.”

“Then you know there are basically three people involved.  The guy we nabbed and two others.”

“But I just told you, I don’t care about those others.  We got the guy who did it.”

“But those two others, each one confesses he did it, the same savage homicide.”

“What!?”

“We’ve got three confessed killers.  Each one tells a very convincing story about how he did the same killing, and each story is different.”

“Incredible.  How could you let this happen?”

(The answer will be posted Saturday.)