Re: [OpenHeroQuest] Last Samurai

From: Julian Lord <jlord_at_qbmiyApj1IvF0r_dNTSFemIFyBcOwN5a6FQSGM5kbBqnq4TM6LWs0j7ypbWokNkEjWnLvt>
Date: Wed, 04 Feb 2004 23:33:06 +0100


John :

> What *really* troubled me most of all was the moral confusion at
> the heart
> of the film. What was the message again?

"America Is Evil" ?

> Exactly *why* was Nathan a hero?

Because he rejects the immorality and arrogance of America, and champions cultural diversity against the tsunami of rampant globalization and the values of universal sameness ?

I actually like the moral ambiguity inherent in the film, because it helps each viewer make up his/her own mind about Nathan and about his actions and their morality (or not). I prefer this to the usual brand of popcorn ...

I'd give it a 5½ / 10.

My favourite morally ambiguous scene is where Nathan teaches the kids how to use their samurai training swords to play baseball ... :-)

> Why was modernisation and the banning of armed criminal gangs such an
> unequivocal evil?

Sorry, it was an equivocal evil. IMO
The director has attempted, mostly successfully IMO, to open a mythic doorway into the hearts and minds of the enemies of Western Imperialism, to try and get us thinking about the cultural arrogance of rampant neo-con Americanism.

> A generation on, the bushido values trumpeted by
> the film
> led to the Japanese invasion of China, Pearl Harbour, and beyond.

No ; a corrupt interpretation of those values led to those events. Anyway, there is an allusion to those consequences in the movie, albeit a subtle allusion, when Nathan carries the sword into the Japanese-American diplomatic conference, and the Emperor suddenly tells the Americans to shove off ...

Anyway, Last Samurai is obviously a vehicle for metaphorical comment on today's world ; not the historical realities of 1876/1877. Obviously there's a feelgood agenda in there, aka Tom gets the samurai babe and personal happiness ; but the moral ambiguity is necessary, IMO, in a film which is intended to be realistically relevant to the post-9/11 21C RW, no matter whether the moral ambiguity is successful or not ...

> Kurosawa, at least, never forgot that.

Probably you were expecting something from the film that simply wasn't intended by the director, hence not there, hence the disappointment.

OTOH, I have to agree with you that the moral issues involved are rather shallow, notwithstanding the ambiguity and relevance. The plot (aka structure) is OK, but the story and dialogue are fairly weak, and eminently forgettable. Nathan's zen kendo aka 'Use the Force Nathan' is on IMO fairly well portrayed, particularly the ambush scene. And John has been slightly unfair re: the whitie out-samurais the samurai ... ; Nathan is introduced as a highly skillful cavalry officer, and is shown to be a master with his standard issue pig-sticker, even without the fifteen minutes' worth of Yoda-imparted training that he gets in Act II.

I'll forget most of this film by next tuesday, of course ; something that _didn't_ happen to me after I saw posthumous Kurosawa flick 'After the Rain', for instance ...

A clear case of 'Mind' beats 'No Mind' hands down ... ;-)

Also, the whole medieval samurai vs. anachronistic "19th century" soldiery (look more like early 20th to my non-expert eye) thing, that Last Samurai is focused on, clearly fails to convince when the Last Battle actually occurs, and this seriously deflates the apparent intentions of the film.

Julian

PS Disappearing bodies : it's not terribly clear, because of the punctually confusing editing ; but the destruction of the soldiery occurs elsewhere than on the main battlefield.

Hummmm ........ ;-/

--
__________________________________
"Hmmm, I've heard of other powers.
Can you tell me about ...

... Real Life ?"



           

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