The Last Samurai | Full Length Reaction

Interview w the Vampire commentary, I think it’s on hbo max.

E

This is a great film but it really romanticizes the Samurai. The movie does such a good job at getting the audience to sympathize with Katsumoto and his rebellion. And getting them to root against the efforts at modernization. But historically most would agree that the Samurai in this case were the villains with a reactionary rebellion against the wave of modernization which threatened their status, wealth and influence. Samurai in Japan were part of a feudal society in which they were among the elite, a fraction of the population with almost a monopoly on military force and education. Women in feudal and Samurai society did not have the rights of men. As nobles members of a Samurai lineage and family had access to an education which was denied to peasants etc.

Cloud Player

This movie has soul... which is good, because it's about souls - the soul of a man, and the soul of a nation. The rebellion that Katsumoto is leading is to convince the emperor that the rampant and unchecked modernization risks trading away everything that makes their country great. Omura is the other side - he claims to be making Japan strong to fight off parasitic foreign influence, but is really just doing it to enrich himself. The Emperor himself does not know what to do, and like you say lacks confidence in himself to make his own opinion known. And then we have the war for the soul of a man - in this case, Algren's soul. He's not really so injured at the beginning, and he's not suffering from his defeat against the Samurai. He hates himself for what he was made to do when campaigning against the native american tribes, specifically when he was ordered to assist in the massacre of women and children. This is why he drinks - to numb the pain of that experience. Oh minor note - when filming the battle scene, they likely could have listened to music if they'd wanted to :) Almost certainly all of the sound they recorded would have been replaced in post-production!

crawlie

My recommendation for a recent movie is Sekigahara.https://youtu.be/1AThuNNLJjM You can also learn history. You will see Ken Watanabe in a movie called Letters from iwo jima. Directed by Clinton Eastwood. https://youtu.be/51lo2dpaZ_g

マン 番犬

They're actually called Stunt Horses and they are incredibly well trained animals. They are really cool and the unsung heroes of movies.

Rented this movie so I could watch along with you 🙂

Finally! I’ve been waiting so long for you to watch this!!!

If you like this you'll love Dances With Wolves. If you can get the 4 hour version your ass will hurt but it highly influenced this film.

Anakin Starkiller

The Last Samurai title refers to the Samurai culture-- the Samurai way. It's not one person.

Mr. Writhms

This is not a "white savior" movie. For context and historical sake it's important to know that Tom Cruise's character was based on the real life French soldier, Jules Brunet, who fought along side Katsumoto (Takamori IRL) during the Boshin War. And another thing people seemed to be confused on, Tom Cruise is NOT the titular Last Samurai. The Last Samurai is Katsumoto.

Adam Brown

That was excellent! Thank you for posting that!

Ron

Here's a good video from History Buff about this movie https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-buQSp6wOMc

Tiger Chu

white saviors didn’t like watching a white savior?

E

There is a lot of criticism of the film for being a "white savior" film and while I absolutely love this film for the characters and how beautiful it is, I see that there are some issues with how this movie shows that this white outsider as the last representation of a proud and ancient Japanese culture. ALSO! Because you were terribly upset with all the horses falling, I will let you know that back in the early days of film, it is true they would trip horses to get them to fall. But in the 1940's the American Humane Association put pressures on the film industry to stop this practice immediately. And so, from then on, they have trained horses to fall on cue in the manner you see in these films. So technically the horses are just as much actors as the humans on screen.

panacamanana