Word: samurais
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Perhaps my film-going companion summed it up best when, on his way out of The Last Samurai, he remarked that a traditional Japanese sword should have been included in the ticket price so that audience members would have the option of killing themselves rather than finish watching Tom Cruise’s insipid new historical drama. It’s an idea that even the staunchest euthanasia opponents could support...
...West Coast, Algren reluctanctly accepts an offer to train a modernizing Japanese army during the sweeping changes of the Meiji Renaissance. Soon after arriving in Tokyo, Algren is captured in battle by the rebel Katsumoto (Ken Watanabe), a fierce but predictably wise warrior committed to preserving the bushido, or samurai code of honor...
...Last Samurai is a cliché wrapped in a stereotype, with the entire endeavor ultimately resting on the filmmakers’ belief that their audience will swallow the movie with the unthinking ardor of a sumo wrestler breaking fast at a sushi bar. Lush cinematography aside, The Last Samurai resounds as a rant (produced in Hollywood!) against the ills of globalization. The movie’s white characters are essentially portrayed as terrorists, and Cruise’s character can be redeemed only after he rejects his western thinking and dress (though he ultimately proves his superiority to the Japanese...
...Stockholm Syndrome. Under the influence of his dignified captors, Algren learns Japanese, rediscovers his inner goodness, and, in the course of one arduous morning, overcomes his alcoholism. Twelve steps aren’t necessary in this Land of the Rising Sun: from the patronizing perspective of The Last Samurai, all an American expatriate needs is a kimono and a hearty bowl of rice to be spiritually cleansed and freed from Western corruption...
...intricately engraved sword—Algren takes up arms against his former employers, the easily manipulated emperor and his evil American advisers. The only problem, from a narrative standpoint, is that the audience has no idea why it should oppose the Western-leaning Japanese ruler or root for the samurai, who are themselves highly militaristic and weaponry-obsessed. The only discernible difference between the two parties is the crude machine guns used by the modernizers and the bows and arrows of the traditionalists. No political persecution or suffering is ever mentioned, and it’s not terribly clear...