Not too long ago, I watched Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai for the primary time. I’ve lengthy been conscious of Kurosawa’s status as one of many biggest filmmakers of all time, and that Seven Samurai is usually seen as his magnum opus, however solely prior to now few years have I really begun to have interaction together with his work.
Having now seen the movie, I really feel it deserves each little bit of reward it has ever acquired. Its storytelling, cinematography, appearing, and themes all maintain up extraordinarily effectively. The phrase “timeless” is thrown round usually, however little to nothing about Seven Samurai feels dated in its presentation, and that helped me to grasp why this was such a pivotal work within the historical past of movie. On condition that this is likely one of the most mentioned films of all time, there’s not a lot (if something) I can add to the dialog. However, I nonetheless need to say one thing.
Seven Samurai is about in feudal Japan, the place a poor farming village is the sufferer of bandits. Left with subsequent to nothing, a gaggle of villagers go into town to attempt to rent a samurai to guard them from the following impending raid. Nevertheless, most samurai are both too costly to rent, and many of the ones who could be okay with merely receiving meals as cost aren’t precisely the perfect. However after they see one samurai go to nice lengths to rescue a woman being held hostage, they know he’s the one. After some determined pleading, this veteran agrees to assist, however he should first collect six different succesful allies if they’ve any likelihood of repelling the bandits.
Studying about Seven Samurai, I’ve come to study that it isn’t simply any movie about bringing the band collectively—it’s the movie. Whereas there are precedents in different types of media (notably the Chinese language basic Water Margin and its whopping 108 heroes), it’s the grandfather of this ever-popular style in cinema, and shines strongly towards its descendants in any case these years. The totally distinctive personalities of all seven warriors, and the ebb and circulate of concord and discord created by their interactions amidst the mission at hand is simply wonderful. That affect might be felt in the truth that its characters and their archetypes are nonetheless referenced in media to this present day, just like the stoic (but deceptively type) determine devoted solely to his swordsmanship, the younger noble who needs to be one of many down-and-dirty heroes so not like his upbringing, and the brash and bearded insurgent who eschews all of the etiquette and ritual of the elite.
The one factor that makes the movie really feel of a completely completely different time is its portrayal of girls, which jogs my memory extra of Golden Age Hollywood with its dramatic closeups of fluttering eyelashes and the like, in addition to the comparatively reductive roles of the feminine actresses.
If anybody is daunted by the age of Seven Samurai or its 3 ½ hour run time, don’t be. It doesn’t require its viewer to be a devoted pupil of cinema or to have a specific fondness for the classics. Kurosawa’s most well-known movie stays compelling, thrilling, and full of necessary messages about how issues are achieved by means of mutual help and cooperation.
“That is the character of battle. By defending others, you save your self. If you happen to solely consider your self, you’ll solely destroy your self.”
