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December 5, 2003
By Veronica Mixon
Filmmaker Edward Zwick has mastered
his passion for historical settings.
His latest film, The Last
Samurai has a breathtaking
cinematography like his past films,
Legend of the Fall and Glory.
You get the magnificent sense of the
beautiful land that men will fight and
die for in every gorgeous frame.
Tom Cruise stars in The
Last Samurai as Nathan
Algren, a Civil War officer who is haunted
by the massacres of earlier Indian conflicts.
He’s recruited by another military
colleague, Colonel Bagley (Tony Goldwyn)
and Omura (Masato Harada) to fight for
the Japanese Emperor Meiji. However,
once he arrives in this distant land,
Algren discovers that Omura is building
the railroad and has ambitions may supercede
the young emperor’s. Nevertheless,
Algren and his pal Gant (Billy Connolly)
begin to train the Japanese troops while
another foreigner, Simon Graham (Timothy
Spall) begins to educate Algren in Japanese
culture and politics. It’s an
exciting time because Japan has been
opened by the West and diplomats, gun
merchants and a variety of opportunists
are determined to make the best deals
possible. When Algren is forced to lead
his raw recruits into battle against
the enemy, Katsumoto (Ken Watanabe),
Gant is killed and Algren is captured.
It is during a long winter in enemy
hands that Algren begins a strange transformation.
Katsumoto is curious about this foreigner
while his loyal officer, Ujio (Hiroyuki
Sanada) observes his master disapprovingly.
Algren is housed in the home of a warrior
that he killed on the battlefield and
the dead man's wife, Taka (Koyuki),
who finds him disgusting because of
his foul odor, must care for him. The
Japanese bathe frequently while Algren
does not. It's a funny footnote in the
differences between the West and the
East. Instead he wears the same clothes
and walks through the village surprised
at his freedom, curious at the intensity
and skill of the men as the practice
fighting and awed by the beauty of the
local temple. Of course, there is no
real escape since Algren doesn’t
know where he is and his benefactors
believe him to be dead.
For several months, living among the
simply country folk in the Japanese
countryside, Algren can’t escape
himself and his own conscious. His talks
with Katsumoto begin to open his eyes
to a new reality – similar to
the fight back home with the Native
Americans. Katsumoto, the former teacher
to the Emperor, has rebelled against
greed and like the Native Americans
of the West, he’s fighting a losing
battle as his country changes and begins
to modernize. The power-hungry capitalists
like Omura want blind obedience and
they want people to disregard the old
ways or they will annihilate those who
resist. Algren learns the joy of bathing,
practices sword fighting – first
with little boys and then with the men
and his talks turn into friendship with
Katsumoto. He’s stunned when he
learns that he’s made Taka a widow
and slowly grows to admire her. Zwick
doesn’t develop a grand romance
or erotic passion for Algren and Taka
like the one in “Legends of the
Fall” which took full advantage
of Indian folklore and the wildness
of cowboys. In “Samurai,”
the passion is for a code of honor and
style of bravery and skill at fighting.
The battle scenes are incredibly beautiful
and fierce. Men fight on horseback and
with swords on the battlefield. There’s
a night attack at Katsumoto’s
village where dozens of assassins wielding
sharp knives and swords seek to destroy
him and Algren finds that he’s
changed sides. The story is engaging
and makes the history of Japan's past
look very inviting.
Tom Cruise does an admirable job as
a seasoned soldier who studies and comes
to admire the honorable culture of the
Samurai. He’s been a star for
nearly twenty years in such films as
Jerry Maguire, Minority Report,
Mission Impossible and Interview
with a Vampire. He has also matured
into a fine actor as well. Hiroyuki
Sanada and Ken Watanabe are magnificent,
too. Zwick has captured the pageantry
and intricate ritual of Japanese life
with glorious costumes, the crowded
city streets and the Imperial setting.
This is an epic film with outstanding
performances.
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