AT THE MOVIES WITH KASEY BUTCHER
I love to be surprised. I love it even more if the surprise is good (i.e. if I think a movie is going to be awful and then it turns out to be incredible). Thus was the case with The Last Samurai. To be frank, I’m not a huge fan of the whole “historical war epic” genre. I mean, movies in this genre have a high potential for greatness, but I can’t watch violence very easily. I think I only saw a half hour of Braveheart. The rest of the time my face was buried in my hands. The Last Samurai, however, was far less violent than expected and far more interesting.
The Last Samurai features Tom Cruise (Minority Report) as Captain Nathan Algren, a military man of the 1870’s who can’t live with himself because of his part in the Indian Wars, including a massacre of the women and children in a Native American village. Algren is recruited by the Japanese government to help train their army in western fighting. The Emperor (Shichinosuke Nakamura) wants to modernize the country and unify Japan so that it can become a great world power. Rather than unifying the country, this causes a revolt by the Samurai, the great class of warriors who have served emperors for 2,000 years. Lead by Katsumoto (Ken Watanabe), the Samurai resist change and fight to preserve the “old ways.” After a futile battle against the Samurai, Algren is captured and taken to Katsumoto’s village. Katsumoto believes that the two men can learn from each other over the course of the winter. Algren is housed by Taka (Koyuki), the sister of Katsumoto, and the wife of a man who Algren killed in battle. During his captivity, Algren is trained in the ways of the Samurai, has his first peaceful sleep since the massacre, and finds something that he is really willing to die for, not simply because his is commanded to do so.
While Katusmoto teaches Algren to live life breath by breath, this movie can be viewed scene by scene. So many amazing images stuck in my mind after the credits rolled. In one scene, Algren is surrounded by Samurai after his troops have retreated. He wields a bayonet and defends himself like a cornered tiger. Cruise does such an amazing job. In this one moment you can see the essence of the character. He is a fighter. He doesn’t really want to be, but down to his core he is a warrior. Katsumoto looks on and sees this, keeping his men from killing Algren. In another moment of vivid imagery, fragile, pink cherry blossoms (which symbolize moments of life) float over a field of dying soldiers. A wounded Katsumoto watches them dance through the air and proclaims, “They’re all perfect.” The entire movie is made up of such breathtaking moments.
The acting in this movie is unbelievable and the story is even better. It is not so much about the battle of the old way against the new, but the battle of a man with his past. It is about the joining of men and of cultures and about finding peace within oneself. It is such a profound movie that I would be surprised if it didn’t go down in cinematic history.
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