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The Last Samurai Movie
The Last Samurai Movie
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Last Samurai is a film released in the United States on December 5, 2003. It is set in the Empire of Japan during 1876-1877.
The film's plot is very loosely based on the 1877 Satsuma Rebellion led by Saigo Takamori, and also on the story of Jules Brunet, a French army captain who fought alongside Enomoto Takeaki in the Boshin War. The roles of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the French Third Republic are largely portrayed as United States actions, and characters in the film and the real story are oversimplified. Although it is not a good source of historical information, the film illustrates some major issues in Japanese history and is often cited as a good example of an American film epic. The Last Samurai is a New Zealand/USA/Japan production.
Some of the Japanese, Asian American, as well as general viewing audiences were appalled or insulted by the seemingly ethnocentric notion that a Caucasian-American would so quickly be able to adopt an ancient art and ultimately become "The Last Samurai." Others contended that the word "Samurai" is plural, and thus the movie title glorifies the culture and people who practiced the art. The Extras of the DVD clarifies that the inteded definition of the movie title is the former, not the latter.
Plot
Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.
Captain Nathan Algren, a disenchanted ex-United States Army captain (once under the command of George Armstrong Custer) who is tortured throughout the film by the guilt of his past transgressions against Native American civilians, learns that the Japanese are eager to modernize their country along Western lines, and have recruited experts in various fields from many different Western countries to accomplish these goals. Algren is recruited by Mr. Omura, a Japanese tycoon and railroad magnate, to help the new Meiji Restoration government train its first Western-style army.
Upon his arrival, he begins training the army, consisting mostly of peasants and farmers who have never used firearms, to combat a fierce samurai rebellion led by one Katsumoto, who believes that Japan is modernizing far too quickly. After only a few brief weeks, Algren is ordered to take the army into battle against the samurai rebels, despite his insistence that the men are not ready.
Algren leads the army into battle against Katsumoto's men, and as he had foreseen, the attack claims the lives of many of the woefully inexperienced soldiers. Although he exhausts himself in fighting, he manages to kill many samurai, including one adorned in red armor. He is spared execution by Katsumoto, and is then taken as a prisoner to an isolated village, controlled by Katsumoto's only son, where he gradually recovers from his wounds and begins to mingle with the locals.
Algren comes to discuss many things with Katsumoto, who enjoys "a good conversation," and it is through him that Algren is given a glimpse through the eyes of his enemy. While he has several times irked Katsumoto's sister, Taka (who, incidentally, is the widowed wife of the samurai in red armor), Algren comes to be attracted to her, while her two young sons grow ever more fond of him. Algren learns swordplay from Ujio, a skilled swordsman and capable warrior, and is often accompanied by an unknown elder warrior, whom Nathan repeatedly refers to as "Bob."
While it is Katsumoto's intention to glean whatever information he can from Algren, and then to free him once winter comes around, Nathan learns, during an assassination attempt on Katsumoto's life (most likely under orders from Omura), that Katsumoto would gladly take his life if the emperor commanded it. When spring comes, Nathan is taken back into civilization, where he learns that the army is now organized, and more importantly, outfitted with Howitzer cannons and Gatling guns. He is given his pay and an offer to stay on as a training consultant, but declines. He later learns that Katsumoto is to meet with Emperor Meiji's council, which later leads to his arrest. After Nathan is attacked en route to Katsumoto's estate, he decides to rescue Katsumoto. A jailbreak is devised and Katsumoto is freed, but his son is wounded and dies.
Katsumoto is devastated by this, compounded by the fact that the emperor is incapable of speaking for his nation, instead allowing his advisors to dictate policy and speak in his stead. While the emperor shows reluctance in speaking, Algren convinces Katsumoto to continue his rebellion to the end, hoping that the emperor will hear his words. A force of swordsmen and warriors is built up - it is here that Algren receives a katana of his own - and Algren and Katsumoto begin to plan their final stand. It is here that Katsumoto compares his futile attack to that of General Custer's. Algren recounts the legendary Battle of Thermopylae, in which three hundred Spartan warriors held off a Persian army of one million men, with the Persians suffering losses so great that they lost all taste for battle and were defeated soon afterward.
The attack starts with Howitzers falling short, then on target, but the samurai force uses walls of fire and wood to cover their escape and deny the enemy army a view of their casualties. The samurai wait behind a hill, with archers covered by wood walls, and a single arrow of fire is released, hitting a group of oiled grass designed to block off the army and catch it in flames. Algren and Katsumoto prepare to battle, with Katsumoto asking Algren about the fate of the garrison at Thermopylae. "Dead to the last man," Nathan replies.
In a fierce battle that leaves many samurai dead and both Algren and Katsumoto injured, Algren reflects that they will not be able to deflect a counterattack by the army. Seeing no escape, they mount horses and charge the army, passing through the infantry lines only to be stopped short by Gatling fire, which mortally wounds Katsumoto and injures Nathan badly. The army ceases fire, watching on as Katsumoto, wishing to die with what honor he has left, commits sepukku and ends his life. The army shows their respect by bowing to the fallen samurai.
Later, as American ambassadors prepare to have the emperor sign a treaty that would give the US exclusive rights to sell firearms to the Japanese government, an injured Algren enters the emperor's chambers, bearing Katsumoto's sword. He tells the emperor that Katsumoto would have wanted him to have it, to remember the ancestors that served before him. It is in this single act that the emperor finally gathers the conviction and valor to turn away the American ambassadors by stating, "We cannot forget who we are... Or where we come from."
Trivia
Although many of the film's cast members are Japanese, the production crew is almost entirely American, and most of the movie was filmed in New Zealand
Cast
Tom Cruise as Captain Nathan Algren, an Indian Wars veteran with a penchant for languages and drinking alcoholic beverages
Ken Watanabe as samurai Lord Katsumoto, a warrior-poet
Masato Harada as industrialist and pro-reform politician Omura
Shichinosuke Nakamura as Emperor Meiji
Hiroyuki Sanada as Ujio, one of the most dedicated and vicious samurai
Timothy Spall as Simon Graham, a British translator for Capt. Algren and his non-Japanese speaking soldiers
Shin Koyamada as Nobutada
Seizo Fukumoto as the Silent Samurai
Koyuki as Taka
Billy Connolly as Zebulon Gant
This article about Samurai history is continued on the next page
to find out all about our new film JUNKYARD SAMURAI
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