50 Movies Where Evil Won
6. Ran
Plot: An adaptation of William Shakespeare's King Lear set in Feudal Japan, where warlord Hidetora (Tatsuya Nakadai) divides his kingdom among his sons, unleashing terrible chaos that destroys his kingdom.
Akira Kurosawa's magisterial masterpiece beautifully captures the rage, cruelty, and nihilism at the heart of Shakespeare's glorious tragedy. Just like in the play, nearly every character dies, and those who do live are left forever scarred.
The only person who wins is the primary antagonist: Lady Kaede (Mieko Harada), the wife of Hidetora's oldest son Taro, and equivalent to Edmund in the original play. Her goal was to destroy Hidetora's entire clan in revenge for them killing her family and taking her land - she sure as hell succeeded there.
It might've been Hidetora's decision to divide his land, but in doing so, he gave her the perfect opportunity to manipulate his sons. A Machiavellian schemer, she orchestrates the many, many terrible things that happen throughout this movie, doing things such as seducing Hidetora's second son Jiro and bending him to her will. When Jiro's servant Kurogane finally beheads her, she faces death with unnerving calm, having done what she always wanted to do.
Some might argue that Kaede wasn't truly evil, for she had lost her entire family and had every reason to hate Hidetora. At the same time, Jiro's wife Sue had also lost her family thanks to him, and she remained benevolent, not wishing to continue the cycle of bloodshed. So yes, evil won here.