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Artwork can be gauged by other identical examples inspired through the passage of tie. The best-known examples are those which had been the focus of remakes throughout. The best of them are those who have their stories and characters intensely embedded in the minds of their viewers. One of the classic instances of such a filmmaker is the Seven Samurai, directed by the famous Akira Kurosawa.
The plot is based on a Japanese tale and is set in the late 16th century. The country is encountering a civil war and the government is failed to leave the place with the group of bandits. The group of bandits ransacks a village situated over a mountain leaving them starving for food and survival. The village is set vulnerable for bandits until Rikichi, a young individual retaliates and is ready to fight the bandit group. The villagers know their deficiency of skills in the field of combat against the pro-skilled villains. An elder being of the village advises people to go to the town and find some professionally trained people or samurai in this case to defend the attacks. Upon arrival, the peasants find several skillful defenders that do not tend to disgrace their respect by contributing the cause for three meals a day only. They finally meet Kambei, who is a skillful yet modest person.
Kambei Shimada: “You embarrass me. You’re overestimating me. Listen, I’m not a man with any special skill, but I’ve had plenty of experience in battles; losing battles, all of them. In short, that’s all I am. Drop such an idea for your own good.”
Katsushiro: “No Sir, my decision has been made. I’ll follow you sir.”
Kambei Shimada: “I forbid it. I can’t afford to take a kid with me.”
The quote above converses between Kambei and Katshushiro depicting Kambei as the leader and Katshushiro as his follower. Kambei along with his disciple Katshushiro agrees to help and further gathers four more suitable teammates and heads to the village.
The seventh samurai is a newbie samurai who follows the other six to the village. At the mountain, they are welcomed with panic and suspect. Irrespective of this response, they begin to prepare for the fight (Berardinelli).
Kurosawa was known as the God of Cinema. People who don’t believe this should at least once, watch the movie Seven Samurai. The scenes and motives demonstrated in the film are very familiar to the modern-day actions that are visible in the movies of Spielberg, Cameron, and Lucas. The influence Kurosawa had on today’s directors is beyond measure. The movie can be counted along with the blockbusters like Alien and Die Hard since it almost has the same category of action classics. The movie is still a must-have for people and is supposed to be listed in the top 100 movie listings (Berardinelli).
The movie became a success due to its unblemished direction and a balance between drama and action. Kurosawa didn’t try to satisfy the audience with scenes of action only, but he identified the characters within. The director never dragged the movie making it boring and decayed, yet he developed every character by unfolding the plot in a slow methodological manner. The director used gestures that revealed the character instead of elaborated dialogues.
Kurosawa had relied on talented actors that were superbly accurate for the characters they played. Takashi Shimura plays the leader of this little group of samurai and performs powerfully throughout. Seiji Myaguchi plays Kyuzo, a deadly samurai with Kimura as Katsushiro who is forced to learn the lessons of a thrilling life. Yoshio Tsuchiya plays the role of Rikichi, a peasant who is intensely distressed by tragic moments personally and bears a short temperament. Kurosawa’s favorite actor, Toshiro Mifune portrays Kikuchiyo, who starts as a comic character and transforms gradually into a real samurai (Berardinelli). The comical play portrayed by Kikuchiyo, and the favorite actor of Kurosawa, Toshiro Mifune is presented as:
Shichiroji: Kikuchiyo, “what on earth are you doing?” (Shimura and Mifune)
Kikuchiyo: “I can’t kill a lot with one sword!” (Shimura and Mifune)
The Seven Samurai deals with widened social matters. In the background of 16th century Japan, this matter was identified as a major conflict between the peasants and the feudal classes personified as samurai. Kurosawa however manages to keep the audience aware of the fact of this conflict – samurai and peasants can work collaboratively but only on a short-term basis. Both the classes are opposed towards each other as samurai believe peasants as a low-grade society and peasants don’t trust the samurai.
Kambei Shimada: “The farmers have won. We have lost.” (Shimura and Mifune)
Above are words that portray the conflict between samurai and peasant classes and the modesty of Kambei the leader of all samurai. The character of Kikujiro openly elaborates the class conflict through an unforgettable and powerful monologue. The social dimensions however were not used in the remakes of the movie as convincingly as in the original one (Antulov).
Kurosawa has put a lot of effort into chronological accuracy in the movie Seven Samurai, despite having a story with universal appeal. The legends, the houses, and the costumes are meticulously remade as well as the armor and artillery of the samurai as of the 16th-century era. Kurosawa’s attention to detail and sense of reconstructing the action scenes is phenomenal since uttermost care is assured to make the scenes sensible and realistic yet creating an exciting viewing experience (Antulov).
Individuals in the movie play a limited position, just like any other war demonstrates, unlike the movies that show superhuman heroes combating single-handedly among hundreds of adversaries. Samurai can be believed as superior in one-on-one fights which are short and the decision is taken in not more than a couple of minutes, yet they feel deficient in terms of power when they are encountered with the bandits’ firearms. Victory as everyone is aware of is not a result of one man’s efforts, it is the achievement of collective endeavors and sacrifices that are given for the benefit of the masses.
The movie Seven Samurai identifies its presence in several traditions. The director has reflected serene exposure instead of just instructing the actors and setting characters.
The movie lacks the 3D effects as of today’s concepts however it focuses the actors in a ‘profound spotlight’ camera method which keeps every character under the eye of the audience, irrespective of their distant position from the lens. Kurosawa seldom uses the alternatives of taking close-up shots. He only takes them upon the requirement and particular motive. His fight sequences tend to be pragmatic and free from ambiguity. Kurosawa seeks the possibility to shoot all the seven samurai characters in a single shot. The shot is accentuated in the end where the survivors of the battle are pictured in the same shot as the graves of the deceased. He has also pictured the figures against the light in numerous instances (Berardinelli).
Kurosawa, throughout his profession, has produced several authentic movies making it quite complex to settle on choosing the best one. For many reviewers and columnists, the intermission is a redundant part breaking the tempo of the viewership. Viewers are so deeply involved in the storyline that by the interval, it is more of an annoying cut-off than a welcomed break time. Unlike other long movies, seven samurai has a unique type of flow. The length of the movie however is quite long considering 201 minutes of the original cut, yet it is a perfect instance of saving. Not even a single scene is a waste. It is considered to be a memorable piece of artwork made by one of the legendary directors of filmmaking. It is a collectible for those who in fact, understand the balance between the aspects of filmmaking and direction (Ebert).
Works Cited
Antulov, Dragan. All-Reviews.com Movie/Video Review: Seven Samurai. 2000. Web.
Berardinelli, James. Seven Samurai – A Film Review by James Berardinelli. 2003. Web.
Ebert, R. The Seven Samurai (1954). Web.
The Seven Samurai. Dir. Akira Kurosawa. Perf. Takashi Shimura and Toshiro Mifune. 1954.
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