Last Samurai

From: illuminate33 <inarsus-ferilt-z_at_yWwHZt8sJ2zIDJJMe0CopIiTmv29_ORi_XgwtURs6_62ob76cfLBhtSN_MS>
Date: Wed, 04 Feb 2004 10:20:48 -0000

Hi John:

<<What *really* troubled me most of all was the moral confusion at
the heart
of the film. What was the message again? Exactly *why* was Nathan a hero?
Why was modernisation and the banning of armed criminal gangs such an unequivocal evil? A generation on, the bushido values trumpeted by the film
led to the Japanese invasion of China, Pearl Harbour, and beyond.

Kurosawa, at least, never forgot that.>>

I am not sure what you mean on the term "bushido", and I am never be the great fan of Japanese movie sets, even if it was backed by Hollywood capital. (And I don't watch this movie, enough in anticipation of open of LotR for now.) But at least I can say it is current trend or attempt of Japan seeking to recover the "pride" before it died out sometime before WW2. (But no one agrees which age is ideal to return....) When we are in trouble and panic, usually go back inside, not seek help from outside.

Peter Metcalph wrote in his Malkioni Knight: http://www.btinternet.com/~nick_brooke/malkioni/knights.htm
<<The knights there are disciplined soldiers that recognize only
loyalty and excellence in arms as being virtues. A RW comparison would be Japanese Samurai (in attitudes - not in armament!).>>

Honestly, I feel little bit slighted by such definition (no intent to blame on Peter), but it seems that we always make effort and help to prove for such.

TI