I walked into the theatre wanting to watchVirumandi. As it was Chinese New Year holidays, the tickets were sold out. So my 2 friends and I decided to watch the last samurai. I had seen the trailer about a month back and was I was supposed to watch next week with another friend (She is gonna kill me!!). Anyway I settled down with a coke in my hand and friends beside me to watch this movie.
The movie opens with drunk Captain Nathan Algren (Tom Cruise) behind the stage of rifle sale/show in 1876. He is introduced as one of the heroes who fought in the civil war. Instead of speaking from the prepared script, he talks about the cruelties of war and fires from the rifle he is supposed to be selling scaring everyone except one man.
In the next scene we see Katsumoto (Ken Watanabe), the leader of the samurai warriors envisioning a white tiger in the middle of a few samurais fighting bravely.
Back to the theatre, we learn that the man who was not scared during the rifle show is Sergeant Zebulon Gant (Billy Connolly) who used to serve under Algren in the army. He tells Algren who was fired from the company before the show even started that there is better employment.
The emperor of Japan wants to westernize his country. Algren’s job is to basically train the Japanese men (who used to be farmers) into becoming a modern army who would be able to defeat the samurai warriors who are sworn to the emperor but are against modernization. Though Algren refuses at the beginning, he eventually accepts the offer.
On reaching Japan, Algren is greeted by Simon Graham (Timothy Spall) who would be his translator. Algren is very keen to learn about Katsumoto and the ways of samurai warriors. Before the army is even prepared, they are ordered to go to a battle against the samurais. Though Algren is strongly against this, he has no choice but to follow the orders.
In the battle, the army loses and eventually Algren is captured. However he does not give up and fights bravely while surrounded by samurais. He kills a samurai in red who was attempting to kill him. On seeing Algren’s bravery and the white tiger on his flag, Katsumoto realizes this was his vision and orders the other samurais not to kill him.
Algren spends the next 6 months as a prisoner in the small samurai village and eventually likes them and learns this culture and battle methods. When he is released in Tokyo, he learns that the new fully modernized army is going to a battle against the samurai warriors. He now has to choose which side he is going to fight on.
This is movie is one of the best war movies I have seen (LOC-Kargil included). This movie is not just about blood and gory stuff. Its also about difficulties and emotional trauma of war. The scenes in the samurai village are taken very well. Some of the sceneries are breathtaking. There are quite a number of scenes where the actors communicate in Japanese but english subtitles are provided. The roles of Algren and Katsumoto are well developed and Cruise and Watanabe have played it very well to the best of their abilities. It is a very touching movie and I cried at the ending. I would advise those who are thinking twice about watching this movie to run to the theatres and those who are not planning to watch it are missing out on a very good movie.
Enjoy The Movie!