Film: Seven Samurai
Release date: 22nd November 2009
Certificate: PG
Running time: 207 mins
Director: Akira Kurosawa
Starring: Toshirô Mifune, Takashi Shimura, Keiko Tsushima, Yukiko Shimazaki, Kamatari Fujiwara
Genre: Action/Adventure/Drama
Studio: BFI
Format: DVD
Country: Japan
One of the most influential films ever made, this towering masterpiece has been remade numerous times, and its grand sense of adventure has been endlessly copied by Western filmmakers. Its enduring popularity is thanks in no small part to Akira Kurosawa’s masterful direction and a wonderful ensemble cast, including Kurosawa muse Toshiro Mifune.
After discovering that a group of bandits will attack them when the rice harvest is ready, a poor mountain village resolves to stop them at all cost. Too weak and scared to take on the bandits themselves, village elder Gisaku suggests they hire samurai to do the job for them.
Hiring a group of samurai that are willing to work with only food as payment is difficult, but eventually the villagers assemble seven warriors to help them. After rescuing a child without taking payment, a ronin named Kambei becomes the first recruit, along with his young follower Katsushiro. They are later joined by Katayama, Shichiroji, Gorobai, Heihachi, Kyuzo and Kikuchiyo, a false samurai who proves himself worthy of a place in the group.
Initially met with fear and skepticism, the samurai soon earn the respect of the village. They set about building defences and training the villagers in preparation for a climactic battle with the marauding bandits…
Seminal is a term used far too often in critical journalism. Its use suggesting that the majority of industry output stems from some other grand, influential work. The films of Japanese auteur Akira Kurosawa, however, can truly be described as seminal - the legacy of his films stretching far and wide in cinema, an influence that has lasted for decades. Seven Samurai is perhaps his most enduring classic, with its universal story and clutch of successful remakes (The Magnificent Seven, A Bugs Life), it has managed to remain fresh in the collective conscious for over fifty years.
The progenitor of countless adventures featuring a ragtag bunch of heroes defending the innocent from evil doers, the story is beautifully simplistic, yet rife with moral complexity. The villagers are initially victims, pushed to their very limits by the prospect of exploitation at the hands of the bandits. Yet when the samurai arrive to help, their initial reaction is mistrust and resentment. Later, a heartfelt speech from Kikuchio reveals the true nature of both himself and the seemingly frightened farmers.
The film is full of dark moments that serve to offset the lighter tone of the story. Moments of levity, like the youngest samurai’s affair with one of the villagers, are in close proximity to darker scenes like an elderly villager wreaking brutal vengeance on a captured bandit.
The cast is superb throughout, particularly the samurai, who are all given vignettes of exposition and moments to shine. Standouts include group leader Kambei and the stoic swordsmen Kyuzo (it’s a testament to the 1960 remake that Yul Brynner and James Coburn excelled in the same roles).
The star of the film, of course, is Toshiro Mifune, who gives an outstanding performance as Kikuchiyo. The film was his seventh collaboration with Kurosawa, and their close creative relationship shines through. Mifune is given free reign, and as a result, Kikuchiyo is all childish excitement and animalistic rage; the film’s comic relief and its beating heart (his outburst about the true nature of farmers is a master class in emotional range).
Kurosawa’s masterful direction cannot be forgotten, however, and Seven Samurai presents the maverick director at the peak of his powers. The film’s final act is a tour de force, and was, in its time, the epitome of spectacle. A series of pitched battles culminating in a climactic, rain drenched last stand in which the samurai defeat the bandits at grave cost to themselves. The finale became the blueprint for every decisive cinematic battle that would follow, yet few would attempt to copy its bittersweet conclusion. The victory against the bandits leaves the villagers prosperous, and all but three of the samurai dead (one of which, Katsushiro, leaves the group to be with the woman he loves). It’s a bold conclusion that deftly mixes elation with tragedy.
A high point in a long line of Kurosawa masterpieces, Seven Samurai is an historic work that anyone who has even a passing fondness of film should seek out. In many ways a proto-blockbuster, its far reaching influence on modern spectacle cinema cannot be ignored. KT
