A little history report I did on The Seven Samurai
Hope you guys like it. It had to be short, but I managed to fit some ideas in. I'd love feedback on it.
If one were to inquire a casual film buff about Akira Kurosawa, he or she would immediately receive a bombardment of appraisal and recommendation for who is arguably the most influential filmmaker of past and present. His films have set standards for several varied genres and concepts including action, surrealism, and drama. His true masterpiece, Shichinin no Samurai (The Seven Samurai), is a culmination of many of these notions, and, back in 1954, it paved the way for a new generation of films and changed the way cinema was viewed forever.
Within all this, Kurosawa managed to make a film that portrayed the period to great perfection. The historical accuracy within it makes it also a great movie to watch if one wishes to experience what things were like.
The film takes place in Japan at a time when samurai are scattered and most have pursued the path of ronin. The country is split up into warring regions controlled by power mongering daimyos. They are so caught up in their own thirst for more land that they do not heed attention to the bandits swarming around the area and preying on the weaker folk. The picture utilizes these facts and creates a fascinating story.
In the movie, a small farming community finds itself in a predicament. A group of bandits is going to invade their tiny town once their crops are fully-grown. This poses a problem, and the feeble farmers must go searching for heroes to assist them in defending their village. Another dilemma that they have to face is that they have no method of payment besides room and board. Even in all of this, seven samurai arise to the occasion for different reasons that they hold to their own.
While the farmers are gracious, it is interesting to investigate their deep-down positions with each the samurai, and vice-versa, which happen to potentially be the mannerisms felt toward each other in real times past. Since these “ones who serve” are more or less not serving anymore, the commoners don’t feel in a position to hold them in as high regard as they used to, since they aren’t perpetually protecting them. The samurai, sadly, only know how to serve, so they have no choice but to defend the ungrateful cultivators.
This in itself explains the bushido, or way of the samurai. Their only way is to serve, and to deny that would be dishonorable. Without out honor, they are soulless hosts. A samurai must uphold his honor, even if that means protecting unappreciative peasants from doom. Even though they question their reasoning throughout the film, their upbringings null these thoughts and allow them to continue their work with body and soul in overdrive. This also leads on to another concept within the film: the ever-presence of Zen Buddhism. The fact that these samurai are able to suppress their desires simply defines Zen.
Zen investigates the world of suffering as produced by desire. If one were to create a paradoxical situation inside one’s head, one could enter a meditative state in which outside one’s mind, things are irrelevant. The leader of the band of samurai, Kambei Shimada, calms himself by rubbing his newly bald head. He seems to do this as a way to calm himself and think things over. Another of the samurai, Kyuzo, has fine-tuned his skills to such perfection that he is, in a way, enlightened, and is not affected by desires and wantings. Interestingly enough, another samurai is the other extreme in this range. Katsushiro Otamoto is young and naïve, and happens to fall for a local girl almost immediately. This leads to strife and turmoil among the samurai and peasants alike. Metaphorically, the film touches on the aspects of the religion.
Of course, the whole film is not all drama and tragedy. There are several ways that the film provides humor as well. Kikuchiyo, one of the seven samurai, is a ruffian of sorts, and while he manages to have his beautiful moments, he also gets by generating comic relief to the picture as well. For example, he trudges around the samurais’ room, totally drunk, attempting to fabricate reason throughout his own confusion and chaos, happily in a very comedic way. He also manages to humiliate the peasants by creating a false alarm and watching them flock to him in fear. This manages to release some tension within the film.
This picture requires a necessary viewing by every man, woman, and child. Once a child is born, they should immediately be subjected to this film. Otherwise, severe punishment should ensue.
