The Last Samurai

Year:  2003

Filming:  Color

Length:  154 minutes

Genre:  Action/Adventure/Drama/Inspirational/War

Maturity:  R (for graphic battle sequences)

Cast:  Tom Cruise (Capt. Nathan Algren), Ken Watanabe (Lord Moritsugu Katsumoto), Koyuki (Taka), Tony Goldwyn (Col. Bagley), Masato Harada (Omura), Timothy Spall (Simon Graham), Shin Koyamada (Nobutada), Shichinosuke Nakamura (Emperor Meiji)

Director:  Edward Zwick

Personal Rating:  3 Stars

***

   

        Beautiful Japanese mountains. Beautiful Japanese actress. Confusing piece-meal of English and Japanese dialogue. Confusing blood-and-guts battle sequences. Some decent spiritual overtones. Throw in a greasy-haired Tom Cruise searching for his identity whilst guzzling sake and you have a pretty good summary of this very mixed, though very memorable big-budget on-location period piece.  

    The story opens in the America not long after the Civil War where we first meet Captain Nathan Algren, played by our darling Tom. Acting as a sharpshooter at a circus attraction, he is manipulated by the masses as a wartime hero but disillusioned by the atrocities he witnessed and took part in during the course of his military career. He soon gets a new opportunity to change his surroundings when his old commanding officer, the cynical Colonel Bagley, offers him a position in the Imperial Japanese Army which has asked the U.S. Army to help them modernize and suppress an uprising of the traditional warrior class, The Samurai.

    Ambushed by the Samurai in a forest, Algren’s forces are annihilated and he is captured by the legendary shogun, Lord Moritsugu Katsumoto. Wounded and suffering from alcohol withdrawals, Nathan is put in the custody of Katsumoto’s beautiful sister, Taka, whose husband had been killed by Algren in the battle. Although she initially forces herself to care for him even though she does not want to, she eventually takes pity on him, and he responds by asking her forgiveness for the pain he has caused her.

    Gradually, Algren learns respect for the Samurai way of life and learns their methods of fighting and spirituality. Yes, we do wonder how Teriyaki Tom becomes Mega Buddhist/ Super Samurai so quickly, but we’ll just let that one slide. Basically, before you know it, he’s serving as the shogun’s body guard companion when he rides into Tokyo to try to reason with Emperor Meiji and convince him not to proceed with his policy of disarming the Samurai and robbing them of their traditional way of life.    Instead, he is almost captured, and his son Nabutada is killed.

    Fearing for his friends and the things he has come to hold dear, Algren agrees to help lead the last samurais in a desperate last stand against the modernized imperial army with their superior weaponry and tactics. He successfully beats off several imperial attempts, but then the Gatling guns are brought in by the other side to combat the raw courage and flawless fighting skills of the individual warriors. This results in a fight to death for the future of Japan and a conflict between the allure of the material and depth of the spiritual.

   The Last Samurai isn’t the worst movie in the world, but it definitely lacks in some major levels with regards to clarity. The overall feel is meandering and hard to follow, making me feel as if I were hovering over the story rather than getting into it. The makers admitted that they were trying to make this more of a visual picture than a dialogue-driven one, and the result leaves the viewer admiring the gorgeous on-location shots of Japan but confused as to what’s happening in the plot.

    What little English dialogue there is usually winds up being either out of place for the setting or in Japanese with English subtitles. Not only do things get extremely hard to follow as a result, but also monotonous in pace. The long, drawn out scenes of Algren’s captivity among the Samurai could probably have been cut down by half, as could the oft times cartoonish martial arts fights, especially the one in which Katsumoto’s son is killed.

    Tom Cruise, in my opinion, is a pretty lousy actor who sticks out like a sore thumb wherever he shows up. He’s just obnoxious to watch most of the time, especially in the first half of this when his bad attitude is at its zenith. His character, and most of the others, don’t seem filled out enough for us to develop a real attachment to any of them. I will admit that the fact he did most of his own stunts and martial artistry is rather impressive, even if the fight scenes were generally overblown.

    Two emotional scenes I would say Cruise pulls off okay are the final doomed charge of the Samurai and his audience with the emperor who decides his fate. He has a very intense expression the whole time, like someone holding back tears, and does a good job generating that sort of emotion in the popcorn-munching throng at the theatre. The Samurai sword sequence at the end is reminiscent of Braveheart, and a nice touch considering the emphasis on the sword being seen as a warrior’s soul, strong yet flexible, cutting yet ornate. Also, they were the symbols of the Samurai’s power that the Imperial government was literally trying to take away.

    There are some pretty bloody battles, but nothing that can’t be easily fast-forwarded for those who wish to do so. Other than that, there is really nothing morally reprehensible in this film. Some people have been deeply disturbed by the fact that Nathan helps Katsumoto commit kill himself on the battlefield. But Nathan repeatedly prevents his friend from committing suicide throughout the film, and is obviously not in favor of it.

   He only takes part in the act when they’re both laying wounded on the battlefield and Katsumoto begs him to assist, to save his honor. His actions may not be commendable but it understandable, and reminiscent of the suicides that take place in Quo Vadis. The suicide also sets the stage for a moving moment when the imperial soldiers all kneel down out of respect for Katsumoto as Algren cradles the dead samurai in his arms, surrounded by slain warriors.

    One of the highlights of the film, for me at least, is Koyuki, a young Japanese actress with a lovely face and graceful demeanor who plays Taka. Like Murron in Braveheart, she symbolizes of all the highest ideals that the main characters fight for, and even the land itself. Her honor, compassion, modesty, strength, and beauty epitomize the best aspects of the Samurai and the reason they fight so hard to preserve their code of living. Thank heavens, and finally in keeping with the right mood, there are no sex flings in a grass hut to be found. Indeed, when Nathan spies Taka washing her hair in a nearby spring, she modestly tucks up her robe to cover her bare shoulders.

    Spiritually, there are a few interesting aspects. One is the redemption Nathan finds through his time with the Samurai, who are sworn to help people “find their souls.” In America, it is inferred that Algren “sold his soul” and become nothing more than a shell after participating in brutal massacres that haunt his dreams and cause him drown his memories with alcohol. His role as a marksman in a circus side-show is symbolic of how low he has sunk. When offered to the position in Japan, he thinks that training the imperial forces will be nothing more than another job to earn some much needed cash and burn off his pent-up energy and frustration.

    But providence, though not directly mentioned, seems very much in control, and Algren finds himself redeemed through defeat and capture. Taka, almost like a guardian angel of sorts, puts aside her own feelings and tenderly nurses him in his hour of need. This kindness brings out his better side and inspires him to apologize for killing her husband. She not only forgives him, but also sees more clearly the goodness in him.

     When he joins the Samurai cause, she lovingly dresses him in her husband’s armor, as a symbol of his transformation. The follow scene of him receiving a Samurai sword from Katsumoto and riding into battle to face much larger forces is unfailingly inspiring.  Another moving aspect is the way Taka’s young sons come to love Algren, even though they knew he killed their father. They seem to take the attitude of their mother: “He did his duty, and you did your duty.”

     The iconic scene where he tries to go up against a Samurai in the village and is beat silly basically demonstrates how weak he is spiritually. Later, when he is allowed to learn martial arts, it is a symbol that he is finally on the road to finding his soul through the help of others. Yes, this is Eastern religious belief to the max, interconnecting the body-spirit dynamic, and may be rather foreign to Christian audiences. But looking at it broadly, we do believe that the body is the Temple of the Holy Spirit. Hence, there is some connection at that.

      “I was never much of a church-goer”, Algren records in his journal, “but there is something timeless about this place, this people.” He eventually comes to embrace the Samurai arts of warfare, artistry, healing, and shamanism, and determines to “fight for the things I love.” This is interesting, if not completely fair to traditional Christianity. There is a tendency in modern Hollywood to glorify exotic spirituality, whether it be Buddhism or Druidism or Islam or what have you. The proponents of these religions and indigenous or Eastern cultures are always shown in a rosy light, while Christianity and western practices are portrayed as being either fanatical or hypocritical.

    This is just stupid considering how deep a faith and a culture we westerners have. If we have rats in our numbers, well, so do other religions and cultures! Why make Christianity look dumb? We have profound spiritual practices, resonant rituals, and deep meditations. And why make the gifts of Christendom look worthless? We have as rich of a heritage as any.

    As in the Highlands of Scotland prior the last Jacobite Rebellion, Japan’s traditional system at the time period this movie this film is set in was indeed in need of an overhaul. While the code of the Samurai may have been admirable for the most part, many individual shoguns used their position to run something of a protection racket, and the common people often lived in the terror of their corruption. Hitherto, Japan had been completely cut off from the outside world, and the common people were deprived of modern convenience. All those who wanted to modernize were not arrogant wretches who had lost their souls, as is indicated. It is noteworthy to point out that, viewed from a different perspective, Nathan Algren is actually a traitor to his own flag.

    That having been said, there is a natural sympathy that we all have for a simpler way of life, built on a reasonable foundation. The real message of the film comes down to this: In efforts to modernize, can we go so far as to destroy the truly worthy things in life, such as the intimacy of community, a sense of the spiritual, a respect for the earth, and appreciation for the aesthetic, putting quality before quantity? At the end of the film, Emperor Meiji is shown as striking a balance between old and new, timeless and innovative, by accepting the sword of “The Last Samurai” and allowing Algren to return to his “spiritual place” and “spiritual mate” in the mountains.

    So while this movie had its elements of confusion, dullness, historical incongruity, and pure ridiculousness, it also had it’s moments of depth and beauty. I may not rush out to watch it again any time soon unless I’m learning Japanese, but I think it was worth a viewing for anyone interested in the issues of international cultures and religions and the ongoing efforts to share, find balance, seek the truth, and fight for the things we love.  

   

Katsumoto (Ken Watanabe) gives Capt. Nathan Algren (Tom Cruise) a Samurai sword