Seven Samurai
October 19th 2007 23:11
Category: Movies
Director: Akira Kurosawa.
Producer: Sojiro Motoki.
Screenplay by: Shinobu Hashimoto, Hideo Oguni & Akira Kurosawa.
Starring: Toshiro Mifune (Kikuchiyo), Takashi Shimura (Kambei), Yoshio Inaba (Gorobei), Seiji Miyaguchi (Kyuzo), Minoru Chiaki (Heihaci), Daisuke Kato (Schichiroji), Ko Kimura (Katsushiro) and Keiko Tsushima (Shino).
Historical Research: Kohei Ezaki (Folklore), Ienori Kaneko & Shigeru Endo (Archery) and Yoshio Sugino (Fencing).
Produced: 1954 Toho Co Ltd.
Released by: 2004 Madman Entertainment.
Running Time: 207 minutes. Rating: PG.
A few years ago the local university was holding a screening of the Seven Samurai in their auditorium; unfortunately for me I was unable to make it that night, which was the only screening, due to other commitments and I had to wait until quite recently to get an opportunity to watch this seminal film. As luck would have it the local library had a copy in their DVD collection and once I found that out it was only a matter of time before it was sitting in the DVD player at home and was sitting back to enjoy it.
Set in early 16th Century Japan at a time of great civil strife the story revolves around the attempts of a village of farmers from preventing a gang of bandits from attacking their village, stealing their crops, valuables and inflicting all manner of carnage upon their way of life. This is apparently the norm within rural Japan at this particular period of history; farmers are constantly being harassed by bandits and having to rebuild their lives and livelihood in the aftermath of their ravages. The movie opens with a scene of the bandits riding through the countryside till eventually they come to a rise overlooking the village around which the bulk of the movie’s action revolves. The bandits ponder the merits of immediately attacking but when they’re reminded that the village has already been raided by them once before they opt to return at harvest. What they are unaware of is that one of the locals has overheard their nefarious scheme and once they have departed, he quickly hurries back to warn his fellow villagers of the danger. The scene where the villagers debate what they should do is one of abject misery, assisted by the wailing of a wife of one of the farmers and her lamentations.
The great strength of this movie is that Kurosawa attempts to present the villagers and the samurai as real, substantial, three dimensional characters, not stereotypes. In his storytelling he attempts to evoke a response from the audience, to make us feel sympathy for the farmers and their plight. They are the victims of the tale, people in desperate need of help and it is only natural to feel sympathy, if not actual empathy for them. Eventually after some debate the villagers with the council of their patriarch decide to hire some samurai in order to defend the village and drive off the bandits. There are some amongst the villagers who feel that this is a bad idea, that samurai are just as bad as the bandits if not worse but they still go ahead with the plan. Four farmers set off from the village to try and recruit samurai for their cause; hungry samurai as the patriarch advises them.
Whilst they’re on their quest to find samurai the farmers encounter the first of the potential recruits for their mission; Kambei. This is where the other strength of the movie’s style is revealed, its actual portrayal of the samurai as something other than sword wielding, conceited and arrogant individuals. Granted each of the seven who eventually become involved in protecting the village see themselves as apart from the farmers that they are defending but this is more a result of abilities than actual status. They are true ronin, their fortunes dictated by the vagaries of fate and war rather than actually having any true bedrock on which to base their lives. They know how to fight but have little other skills. Kambei who becomes the leader of the seven is first seen as a samurai who definitely has an unorthodox approach to problems, he saves a child who is being held hostage by a thief by shaving his head and posing as a priest in order to get close to the thief. Such an action would not be considered by any ‘normal’ samurai as it would be seen as a stain to his honour, yet from the actions of Kambei it seems he is more of the opinion that to do nothing and risk of the life of the child is the dishonourable thing; better for him to lose his hair than to see a child die.
Though it is a fairly simple tale, a story of the little guy standing up to a bully it is a masterfully told story and the actors who portray the various characters do so with skill and end up making the tale into something believable as well as enjoyable. The tempo never drops but builds up consistently throughout as we watch the opening scenes to the closing moments, it is like a stream trickling down from the mountains and gaining in momentum eventually becoming a river and eventually flowing out into the sea. Seven Samurai truly deserves its accolades as a classic film as it has all the elements that make it a classic, great story, great cinematography, great acting and even though it runs in at 3 hours 20 minutes you certainly don’t notice it once you start watching. It is an easy movie to become engaged in.
Producer: Sojiro Motoki.
Screenplay by: Shinobu Hashimoto, Hideo Oguni & Akira Kurosawa.
Starring: Toshiro Mifune (Kikuchiyo), Takashi Shimura (Kambei), Yoshio Inaba (Gorobei), Seiji Miyaguchi (Kyuzo), Minoru Chiaki (Heihaci), Daisuke Kato (Schichiroji), Ko Kimura (Katsushiro) and Keiko Tsushima (Shino).
Historical Research: Kohei Ezaki (Folklore), Ienori Kaneko & Shigeru Endo (Archery) and Yoshio Sugino (Fencing).
Produced: 1954 Toho Co Ltd.
Released by: 2004 Madman Entertainment.
Running Time: 207 minutes. Rating: PG.
A few years ago the local university was holding a screening of the Seven Samurai in their auditorium; unfortunately for me I was unable to make it that night, which was the only screening, due to other commitments and I had to wait until quite recently to get an opportunity to watch this seminal film. As luck would have it the local library had a copy in their DVD collection and once I found that out it was only a matter of time before it was sitting in the DVD player at home and was sitting back to enjoy it.
Whilst they’re on their quest to find samurai the farmers encounter the first of the potential recruits for their mission; Kambei. This is where the other strength of the movie’s style is revealed, its actual portrayal of the samurai as something other than sword wielding, conceited and arrogant individuals. Granted each of the seven who eventually become involved in protecting the village see themselves as apart from the farmers that they are defending but this is more a result of abilities than actual status. They are true ronin, their fortunes dictated by the vagaries of fate and war rather than actually having any true bedrock on which to base their lives. They know how to fight but have little other skills. Kambei who becomes the leader of the seven is first seen as a samurai who definitely has an unorthodox approach to problems, he saves a child who is being held hostage by a thief by shaving his head and posing as a priest in order to get close to the thief. Such an action would not be considered by any ‘normal’ samurai as it would be seen as a stain to his honour, yet from the actions of Kambei it seems he is more of the opinion that to do nothing and risk of the life of the child is the dishonourable thing; better for him to lose his hair than to see a child die.
Though it is a fairly simple tale, a story of the little guy standing up to a bully it is a masterfully told story and the actors who portray the various characters do so with skill and end up making the tale into something believable as well as enjoyable. The tempo never drops but builds up consistently throughout as we watch the opening scenes to the closing moments, it is like a stream trickling down from the mountains and gaining in momentum eventually becoming a river and eventually flowing out into the sea. Seven Samurai truly deserves its accolades as a classic film as it has all the elements that make it a classic, great story, great cinematography, great acting and even though it runs in at 3 hours 20 minutes you certainly don’t notice it once you start watching. It is an easy movie to become engaged in.
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