The Last Samurai Patreon Watch Along
Added 2024-01-29 00:23:32 +0000 UTC
Comments
It was my first time watching this movie, and I watched it with Stef's reaction. I enjoyed it! It reminded me of the movie "Dances with Wolves " because I found a few thing that were similar.
Will Castillo
2024-02-24 03:31:13 +0000 UTCIn the battle where the not trained Japanese soldiers broke and ran to the rear, some tried to get them to stay but when a unit routs, when it is every person for themselves it is hard to get anyone to stand and fight especially when they know it is likely death. Even trained units rout, it can be very chaotic. Nathan and his sergeant led the men, and they stayed behind to give them time to run, to save themselves because they understood the roles of a real leader not like his Colonel who has no idea of true leadership. Later, when Nathan squares off with one of the Samauri with wooden swords, the reason he keeps getting up is because he cannot quit. The Samauri acknowledge this later as he becomes one of them for they know, without question, that he will stand with them though they all know they are going to die. I have heard that concept given many names, some lately derisive and it is still around. Sometime later in life, read the book or see the movie Unbroken.
Vryce
2024-02-22 20:49:43 +0000 UTCAh right so the frequent flash backs are based on both the sand creek massacre and the 1868 attack on washita creek which according to the flash backs Algren participated in. So yes you’re correct.
Dark Dragon
2024-02-01 17:12:51 +0000 UTCLikely added to make the trauma have a visual history. But they had plenty of real events they could take from I'm sure.
Mawk
2024-02-01 17:09:14 +0000 UTCAlso a little fun ( I retract the fun because welll you’ll see ) fact is the method by which Katsumoto chose to die was via seppuku which is an important aspect of samurai culture. It’s Japanese for self - disembowelment. They did it as a voluntarily way to die with honour rather than be capture by enemies and most likely tortured.
Dark Dragon
2024-02-01 15:58:39 +0000 UTCHey, Yeah, what I meant was regarding the attack on the Native American village which was inducing Algren’s flashbacks. Whether it was just a fictional fight, or was intended to portray an actual event, like Sand Creek, or Washita River, or something.
Nathan Towne
2024-02-01 15:51:01 +0000 UTCActually it’s does have some clarification on what battle the whole film is set in. So here’s a summary. The plot of the film was inspired by the 1877 rebellion of the satsuma province led by foreign powers. The character Algren is somewhat based on 2 people, Eugene collache and Jules Brunet who are French imperial guard officers who fought with Enomoto Takeaki in the Boshin war earlier.
Dark Dragon
2024-02-01 15:44:06 +0000 UTCJames Cameron, who obviously wrote the basic story for and directed Titanic (along with plenty of other movies) has joked before that so many of the teenagers and young people who fell in love with/love Titanic would have sworn up and down that they had no interest in Shakespeare whatsoever. Assigned Shakespeare in High School/College, the general attitude would probably be “I am not going to bother to actually read that.” The catch, of course, is that Titanic ***is*** Shakespeare. Cameron was trying to capture the public imagination and make a massive blockbuster and his whole concept for Titanic was simply: Romeo and Juliet…..on the Titanic. The story literally is Romeo and Juliet. He changed details around and that, but it is basically the same general story. There is nothing wrong with that, per se. Romeo and Juliet was obviously ripe for a retelling and I like Titanic fine. Of course, he did an incredible job with the ship and sets and everything else, as well, but you get the basic point. The Shape of Water fits into this general framework, I think. The underlying story is Beauty and the Beast, which was, of course, originally a novel first published in 1756. Changed the details around and that, but it is Beauty and the Beast, essentially. I haven’t actually seen it, but I have seen the trailer and all of that and it is very clear as far as that goes. Again, nothing wrong with that though.
Nathan Towne
2024-02-01 11:55:46 +0000 UTCI would recommend Guillermo del Toro's later film, "The Shape of Water" (2017), the winner of the Best Picture Academy Award. "Pan's Labyrinth" is the more creative and thought-provoking film but "...Water" is really tugs on so many emotions.
ButtercupsTrueLove
2024-02-01 01:06:21 +0000 UTCIt is unclear what they were trying to portray in the early section of The Last Samurai as far as the attack in the Native American village was concerned, if anything, but the references to Custer’s stand referred to Little Big Horn, a very famous and controversial event. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Little_Bighorn
Nathan Towne
2024-01-31 15:09:00 +0000 UTCBased on your reaction videos, I am getting an idea of what you will probably like and there are some good recommendations which have been put up. Was pretty confident that you would like and connect with The Last Samurai. Didn’t have much doubt about that, actually. It is a beautiful movie. I think that you will probably like Catch Me If You Can, as well. Good movie and tells the/his story well. Not sure whether that will wrap up your reactions from the last poll, but if not, it will be very interesting to see your reaction to Ex Machina. I think that you will probably like it. I thought that it is was a really good movie. Would make for a great reaction too. As for the others, Master and Commander is just one of my all-time favorite movies and is just absolutely brilliant. It is in my top twenty or so favorite movies. Absolutely phenomenal! With Pan’s Labyrinth, you will have never seen anything like it, but I am pretty confident that if you do watch it, you will connect with it. Another really good movie. I would even say great and also one of my favorites.
Nathan Towne
2024-01-30 20:09:35 +0000 UTCThere is a show coming out in February called Shogun which is very much in the same vein as this movie. Its a fictionalized telling of the real events that led to the rise of the Tokugnawa shogunate that ruled until about a decade before the fictionalized events in this movie. It was an excellent book and a great miniseries in the 80’s. The trailers look to have done it justice so if you like this movie it might be worth checking out.
Ryan
2024-01-30 01:39:40 +0000 UTCGreat reaction. I was one of those who suggested this film and I'm glad you enjoyed it. It's a beautiful film and one of my favourites. Also, yes, we were all waiting for you to cry 😂 That line at the end “I will tell you how he lived” gets me every time. The soundtrack is great too, the songs “A way of life” and “A small measure of peace” are particularly beautiful. Hans Zimmer is a genius.
Sam
2024-01-29 03:36:46 +0000 UTC
