People lie, I guess. I can’t be surprised by any aspect of Rashomon. If you view Rashomon under the perspective that it’s about perception against reality it’s a lot more interesting, but the narrative seems to suggest it’s simple egocentric lying with its drama about the evil in man. Evil that’s deliberate, as is shown by the ending. Rashomon‘s obviously ambitious in narrative for its time with its multiple perspectives, but I’m not interested in anything it amounts to. Mifune is also terrible in this film, despite generally being a top-class actor. His forced laughter is a historical precursor to that scene in Final Fantasy X.