An Enchanting Tale. Review on The Last Samurai Movie

My first reaction on hearing about Tom Cruise playing a Samurai was C'mon Gimme a break. Hollywood has a habit of being very ambitious in every aspect of film making. When it pays off it becomes a monster hit, when it does not then it looks very ugly. But I was pleasantly surprised to find out that The Last Samurai belongs to neither. It is a good story whose main purpose is to send a message to the audience without compromising on its main purpose, to entertain.

STORY

Well I don't know how original or fictional the story is, but frankly who cares as long as it is not a bore. The story about Japan in 1870's. Captain Woodrow Algren(Tom Cruise), a disillusioned War veteran is asked to train Japan's new army on modern warfare, as a part of Japan's emperor attempt to modernize his country. Cruise now doing odd jobs for money accepts it as a heavy paycheck.

But this modernization comes at the cost of the Samurais, ancient warriors who until then had the responsibility of security but were now considered primitive and savage. As a result they start a rebellion, which captain Algren had to help curb. When he is hastily forced to take on the Samurai with his ill-prepared troops, he not only looses but is also captured.

When he recovers from his wounds, he learns that he was captured to help Samurais learn more about their new enemy. But as the luck would have it during his stay there this disillusioned vagabond is taken aback by the discipline and a sense of purpose of the Samurai which is evident even in small children. Their strive for perfection in whatever they do and their single minded devotion to their purpose provides the much needed direction in his life. He realizes what he had been missing all his life.

He decides to join the Samurai in their war, which is nothing but their attempt to be heard by the emperor that it is their right to serve him and even he cannot deny the purpose for which they have lived and by which they have happily died for centuries. They would rather die a warrior than live another life.

Pros

Well I'm going to watch this movie tomorrow, coz more I think about it, the more I want to watch it. The biggest strength of the film is no doubt the script & screenplay. But Director Edward Zwick must also be commended for keeping it simple and coherent. He doesn't try anything fancy. The need for the balance between old and new ways is clearly but subtly brought out by him. The film flows like a poem. Cinematography and editing are brilliant even by hollywood standards.

Well if you ever doubted Cruise's acting capabilities watch this film. I don't think he ever packed so much punch in one performance. The supporting cast is brilliant especially the samurai clan. Also the film , unexpectedly, is not much of a war film. Yes the couple of War scenes are deftly executed with no angle spared but they are hardly 25 minutes in this 145 minute film and that's the best part. Too much action can easily kill a good script. The film was about ideals not flying swords.

The film has relatively few dialogues, as most of the times their is a language barrier between characters and I also think, the director did not wanted too many subtitles, so Japanese dialogues are kept at a minimum, thus leaving it mostly to the director and actors to express without talking much. Which makes the movie infinitely more effective. the relationship between Taka the wife of samurai Cruise killed and who was asked to bring him to good health and the resulting love between them is almost entirely portrayed by the actors without dialogues.

Cons

Well nobody is perfect, so is this film but who gives a damn. ;-))

Bottomline

There is an Aura associated with epics which are made well and that gives you , what you call, an enriching experiance. There are many good scenes but I would like to narrate one instance. While preparing 500 samurais to battle against 2 regiments of japanse army and howitzer guns, Algren tells Kasamoto about 300 greeks which kept a million strong persian army at bay or so lon that the battle became too costly and persians lost interest and soon after they were defeated. The conversation ends there. But just before going for the final charge in their final battle Kasamoto asks what happened to the greeks? ''Dead, down to the last men'' Nathan replies. The both smile and go for their final charge forward.

Go and watch this film NOW, if you have already, then go again.

Njoy

P.S. The drought of good films both in Hollywood and Bollywood has caused me burnt pocket many times, so when a good film comes along it is a sort of special occasion for me. So I don't waste a sec in asking everyone to celebrate and this time it is more special as I watched this and Munna Bhai MBBS on two consecutive days. Film gods are smiling on me for a while.;-))