In Japanese, Ran means chaos. The title is a perfect fit for the 1985 masterwork by the late Akira Kurosawa, who was 75 when he filmed it.

        The story is based on King Lear, Shakespeare's most bitter tragedy and an unforgiving tale of betrayal, blind pride and the folly of relying on virtue in an evil world.

        More than adaptation, Ran re-invents Lear, and wrings a terrible beauty from its bleak heart.

        Now in re-release to mark its 15th anniversary, Ran qualifies as required viewing for for any devoted lover of film.

        The story is stormy and blood-soaked, the dialogue is in Japanese with subtitles, the setting is the distant past in a culture so foreign it could have come from another planet. And it runs two hours and 40 minutes long.

        That is to say, it is everything that makes some people avoid foreign films.

        If you are one of those people, you would do yourself a favor to see this film. Just sit in the dark and surrender — to its delicate rhythms, its silences and its music, its terrifying fury, its breathtaking battles. Do that, and it won't seem strange and unfamiliar for long.

        The center of the story is the elderly Lord Hidetora, played with enormous empathy by Tatsuya Nakadai. With his face painted in the Noh tradition, he radiates the power of a living totem.

        Hidetora sinks into madness as his plan to divide his empire among his three sons collapses into war, and his heirs turn on one another — none more chillingly than his deceptively reserved daughter-in-law, Lady Kaede (Mieko Harada). Her transformation from hand-maiden to hell-hound is a good example of how the quality of this movie transcends the cultural gap between filmmaker and audience.

        When we first see her move, the swish of her heavy silk robes sounds a little intrusive. Later, after she has revealed herself, we hear her coming and we recognize her by that slight noise, which becomes as ominous as the sound of sharpening knives.

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