Seven Samurai

[tylerdurden]

Find Hungry Samurai

It's easy to forget that outside the country you live in, there's a whole world around you. Different countries with different cultures, music, food, and especially movies. Rarely do movies transcend their country and penetrate other countries culture's like Akira Kurosawa's magnum opus, Seven Samurai. There are many aspects of this movie that will deter some people...

1. Entirely in Japanese with English subtitles
2. Black and White
3. Almost 3 1/2 hours long

None of these things affect the movie, in fact in some ways they strengthen the movie. Being entirely in Japanese makes the movie more believable than if the Japanese Samurai spoke english. The black and white makes the final battles scarier and more chaotic. The length helps to engross you into the world of the film. Seven Samurai may be the only 3 1/2 movie that could be longer, and would still be amazing

The lengthy story of Seven Samurai follows a village's struggle to repel bandits looking to steal their crops. With the help of, you guessed it Seven Samurai, the villager train for the impending battle. The Samurai themselves are distinct group, all with their own personalities. Kambei is an old world weary veteran, while his protege Katsushiro, is young an untested. All of the Samurai are fighting for the village out of the good of their heart, and aren't paid for their work. The villagers themselves, are just as interesting as the Samurai, although there aren't as many of them.

The action is paced very well, and is interspersed between the dialogue. Since it was made in the 50's there is almost no blood, aging the film. When character get sliced with swords, the don't have cuts. If someone gets stabbed, the sword goes in them, but no blood. The arrows are believable, because the actors were apparently really getting hit, with wood blocks protecting them, but again, no blood. However, Kurosawa's great direction often covers up this fact. Actors usually turn around when sliced, and the camera is far out for some instances. This leaves much of the violence to our imagination, increasing the effect on the audience.

Even without blood, the sword battles are, for lack of a better word, bad-ass. One of the seven, Kyuzo, is the most skilled of the swordsmen, and it shows. In his first scene, he slices an over confident fighter, killing him with one strike. The battles, especially the last one, have great tension. They pit our hopeful heroes versus seemingly unbeatable odds, and manage to pull our heart strings when one of the villagers or samurai meets their end.

*spoiler* when Kikuchiyo died, I seriously almost cried. It still gets me misty after seeing it almost 15 times.

None of the characters don't speak English, but they are more believable than most American actors. They embody their characters, and bring alive their respective character's distinct and memorable personalities.

10/10