Once there was a time when men fought for honor & not for livelihood. To be a Warrior meant... to be disciplined, to serve & fight selflessly for the king, the people & country... to fight & die for a cause you believed in. It was considered better to kill oneself rather than accept the shame of defeat. The fictional story of ’The Last Samurai’ is set in those historical times of the last days of the Samurai, the Warriors of the imperial Japan...
Japan at cross-roads - moved to Comments due to lack of space
Premise of the movie
Nathan Algren (Tom Cruise) is the former captain of the American army that fought the Sioux Red Indians. Once a decorated soldier... now reduced to a drunken performer for the American public; while sleeping he is often beset by the nightmares of the massacres of women & children to which he was a unwilling party under the leadership of cruel & self-serving colonel Benjamin Bagley (Tony Goldwyn).
Hired as a mercenary for a princely of 500 dollars (in those days) by the Japanese councillor Omura, Nathan sets out for Tokyo to train the Meiji’s army of peasants, who have never held a gun their life, into soldiers.
An error in judgement on part of colonel Bagley forces Nathan to face the mighty Samurai with an ill-trained army. Most of Nathans men are slaughtered & he himself taken a prisoner after fighting bravely & slaying several Samurai, by Katsumoto ( Ken watanabe) the leader of the Samurai.
There he learns more about the disciplined life of the Samurai & Bushido, the Samurai code of honor & combat which shatters his ingrained western outlook of Samurais being ruthless savages. And in the course of time trains to become a Samurai himself.
As differences between the military generals & Katsumoto widening, Katsumoto gets expelled from the emperors council by the tricks of Omura. Though emperor Meiji has great respect for his teacher Katsumoto, he feels helpless in voicing his opinions.
Now Katsumoto has to chose between the shame of defeat (ending his own life) or face the modern army of Omura. Helped by Nathan & the other Samurai to escape from Tokyo, he decides to ride one last time against the emperors army.
Will the ’White Tiger’ roar one last time? Can the army of Samurai armed with nothing better than swords & arrows, survive against the imperial army well-equipped with Guns, Cannons & Howitzers (machine guns)? Is it the end of the Samurai way of life? Will this battle help Nathan exorcise his nightmares or give him more nightmares?
Actors & Characters
Ken Watanabe - Katsumoto : Katsumoto is the star of this movie almost overshadowing Tom Cruise’s character. Ken has done total justice to the character of Katsumoto - who is a warrior, a spiritual person, a student of war & war-fare, a poet, a philosopher & overall a man who respects even his enemies & in turn respected even by his enemies!
He is the teacher of the emperor & also his most loyal servant. Despite this he revolts against the emperor in the best interests of Japan & it’s people. A leader who inspires his band of men to fight against insurmountable odds & charge with pride & honor against a fusillade of bullets , cannon-balls & machine gun fire unto their almost certain death. A real Samurai
Tom Cruise - Nathan Algren: Since Tom also happens to be the producer of this movie along with Warner Bros... no surprises regarding his choice to play the last Samurai. But due credit must be given to him for giving one of the best performances of his movie career justifying his selection to play the title role in this 100 million dollar magnum opus.
Coming to his character in the movie.... Nathan Algren is not just a soldier, but also an keen observer & recorder of his surroundings including his enemies be it the Sioux or the Samurai. Growing a beard has succeeded in obscuring Toms otherwise boyish looks & give him the serious appearance of an army captain, a loser drunkard & a Samurai warrior at the end. Given the scope of acting required for this complex character Tom has done a commendable job... though at times it looks like he could have done it better! For example the scene where he beheads a soldier who exclaims ’The days of Samurai are over’ & his final face-off with colonel Bagley. Neither did his anger in the first scene nor did his disgust (for Bagley) in the latter did seem convincing enough for me. But overall a great understated unexpected performance
Koyuki - Taka : who plays the sister of Katsumoto & the widow of a Samurai slain by Nathan in combat, who nurses him back to health. Initially full of contempt for the American, she gradually feels attracted to him as he learns the Samurai ways & becomes one.
Koyuki looks gorgeous & also fragilely beautiful... physically so slender & vulnerable, but spiritually strong! A woman who would question the decisions of her brother the all-powerful Katsumoto if necessary..
The romance between Taka & Nathan has been the most understated filmed by Hollywood in recent times of instant passion-play!
Other performances... Tony Goldwyn as the unscrupulous colonel Bagley; Timothy Spall who plays Simon Graham - the British traveller , photographers & Nathans comical side-kick who infact narrates the whole story etc. have played their supporting roles well
Of the Japanese cast... Masato Harada who plays the scheming Omura, Shin Koyamada as Nobutada - Katsumotos jovial... yet valiant ace-archer son; Seizo Fukumoto essays the role of the silent samurai the one who Nathan calls ’Bob’ in one of his lonely moments... have played their characters to perfection
I am really surprised not seeing much mention of Hiroyuki Sanada who played the fiery Samurai Ujio. In a stellar performance for an actor playing supporting role, he has come tops be it challenging Tom Cruise in stick/sword fights or charging along with him to war.
The background score is great. The cinematography is excellent & captures the virgin beauty of pre-modern Japan in it’s full splendour be it the streets of Tokyo, emperors palace or the snow-clad mountains or the flowers blooming in the spring. The picturization of the battle scenes is one of the best for any war movie. All in all... deft & skill direction by Edward Zwick weaves a spell-binding story of bygone times.
The End of an Era
With the end of Samurai... the emperor became a puppet of the generals (unlike in the movie ending). Japan built a very modern army in the due course of time & took head-on with mighty America in World War II. Countless millions died in WWII including those who died in the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima & Nagasaki.
Gone are the time when men lived & died for honor & oral word had more value than all the legal signed documents of today! Nothing remains more chivalrous than munching pop-corns, gulping coke & watching war movies in the modern world... Sigh
When I finally left the theatre, what kept ringing in my ears was what emperor Meiji said in conclusion... which remains true to todays globalizing India...
With Modernity we got guns, cannons, Howitzers... we even got Western clothing. But in the midst of all.. we shouldn’t forget who we are... and where we come from
Sayonara... till the next review
[ Note : Some of the gory scenes in this movie like war scenes , head-chopping etc. may be unpalatable to viewers who abhor on-screen violence. Certainly I don’t belong to that category :-) ]