The 60th Essay: Rear Window (1954, USA)
- Director, Kayukawa Clinic, Yuhei Kayukawa, M.D.
- 3 days ago
- 1 min read
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Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window (1954, USA) is a suspense film about a man confined to a wheelchair after an accident who, out of boredom, begins watching the residents of the apartment building across the courtyard and gradually becomes drawn into a suspected murder.
Late one night, he sees a man leaving the building carrying a large suitcase. He also notices the man repeatedly checking a flower bed and later handling a butcher knife and a small saw. These fragmentary observations gradually come together in the protagonist’s mind as a horrifying suspicion.
Yet his friend, a police detective, dismisses his theory as nothing more than a delusion. As a result, the audience too is left wondering whether the protagonist has uncovered the truth or is simply allowing his imagination to run wild.
The film can also be read alongside Aesop’s fable commonly known as “The Boy Who Cried Wolf.” Once someone has acquired a reputation as a liar, even a genuine warning may no longer be believed when a real danger finally appears.
The same difficulty in distinguishing truth from falsehood remains relevant in modern society, whether in the form of misinformation, exaggerated warnings, or wrongful convictions. Rear Window is a thought-provoking film that makes us consider how we should judge what other people tell us and how we should evaluate what we believe we have witnessed—including the dangers inherent in watching and prying into the lives of others.
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