The White Samurai

Rating: 10/10 (14 December 2003)

First off, let me state that I am Asian, so I am writing about The Last Samurai from the perspective of an Asian viewer.
This could have been a great, classic epic about the clash between the East and the West, but the last twenty minutes of the film ruin everything that the filmmakers worked so hard at. Although I won't give away the end of the film, all I will say is that the film finally succumbs to Hollywood conventions which it worked so hard to avoid prior to that point. What I will say is that the last two scenes of the film are racist to the extreme in that the White man triumphs over his Asian comrades in the most blatantly offensive manner! Just watch the film, and you will see what I mean.
However, prior to the offensive conclusion of the film, The Last Samurai is for the most part a thoughtful and respectful film about Japanese culture and history. Also, Edward Zwick did a great job of developing the characters of the lead Samurai and the Cruise character. Their relationship was endlessly fascinating and enlightening. Also, the battle scenes were among the best that I have ever seen, almost up there, but not quite, with the master himself, Kurosawa.
But I must admit that I am tired of seeing films about the White man who meets the noble savages, and learns to appreciate and eventually assimilate their ways (Dances With Wolves, Last of the Mohicans, The Thin Red Line, Zwick's own film Glory, and the list goes on...). I guess that this is a standard convention because Caucasian audiences need a lead character which they can identify with. But, as an Asian viewer, I find this filmic device rather offensive, because if I want to understand another culture, I want to view it through the lens of the culture itself, not through the eyes of a colonizing force from outside the culture.
I know that it sound like I don't like The Last Samurai, but as I stated earlier, there is much to admire in the film. But, I believe that The Last Samurai could have been a classic if the filmmakers disposed of Cruise' character entirely, and just focused on the conflict between the Samurai culture and the modernizing forces of the mainstream Japanese culture at the time. Oh, and one more quibble, is it just me, or is it extremely offensive and disrespectful when the Cruise character ends up getting romantically involved with the wife of the man whom he killed in battle? Come, on, guys, this is just wrong.
Someone hand over the Last Samurai's script to a Japanese director, and let the Japanese tell their story, please.
And Mr. Zwick, I haven't seen Courage Under Fire yet, but please, if you do another war movie, try to avoid racially charged subjects such as Black regiments during the Civil War, and Japanese samurai fighters.