Seven Samurai

I’m proud to present my 100^th post.

In 1954, Akira Kurosawa co-wrote, directed and edited what would become one of the most well-known and iconic foreign films ever made. Seven Samurai has been praised by many Western and Eastern critics for being the first modern action film and is the highest reviewed film on Rotten Tomatoes. It also became Japan’s highest grossing film and influenced many other directors, such as John Sturges, who made The Magnificent Seven.

Set in the Warring States Period, the film follows the story of farmers that are menaced by an army of bandits and on the brink of starvation. They decided to hire seven Ronin to combat them when they return after the harvest to steal their crops.

It’s quite interesting to see the origin of so many tropes that have been present in film for the past 60 years. Watching a lot of modern film and seeing the gathering of a ragtag bunch of misfits or the planning stages and execution of a plan, it’s hard to realize that the idea to include those had to start somewhere. One film had to do it perfectly as to codify it and make everyone else want to copy it. And that’s one great aspect of Seven Samurai. It joins the titular characters in such a way that you really get to know each one’s personality just by how they are recruited. And if this film wasn’t the first one to do that, then it certainly perfected it.

And each samurai brings something different to the group. Kambei is the leader and doesn’t take too much stock how much honor you have if it means keeping it sacrifices an innocent. Gorobei was master tactician and created the plan for defense. Shichiroji is an old friend of Kambei and knows how to watch his back. Haihachi was always the one to keep their spirits up. Kyuzo was the realist of the group who didn’t mince words and didn’t want to kill anyone. Kikuchiyo was the one who always prepared and determined. And Katsushiro was the untested novice who would quickly learn the way of the sword. They all banded together very well to give the villagers a fighting chance.

Furthermore, when it came down it, the battle wasn’t glorious or romanticized. In fact, it heightened the fact that battles are anything but grand, anything can and does happen and deconstructed the modern notion of what it meant to be a samurai. At the end, it’s shown that the remaining samurai actually envy the villagers who live by their own virtues. They even note that it’s the farmers who won instead of them.

The bandits also weren’t simply left to be just bandits. In the beginning, the leader is given characterization by passing the village up until later for pragmatic reasons. The other bandits, while being murderous thieves, were shown to be people, who relaxed, complained and were even afraid.

I thoroughly enjoyed this film. So much so that it wiped out the Top Ten I had posted at the genesis of this blog and once I’m done with the Disney Animated category, there won’t be categories anymore. It’s just going to be films ranked on my enjoyment of them. And currently, this will be #1, having broken the sound barrier crossing the Edge of Satisfaction.

Until further notice, this has become my favorite film.