Nice Conversations

Rating: Null/10 (7 March 2004)

The Last Samurai is a thinking guy flick. It celebrates the values men hold in codes and honour. It champions the virtues of stoicism and tenacity, especially in the face of losing battles. And of course, it attempted to exoticise Japanese culture, with some parts of its screenplay seemingly lifted out of back translated fortune cookies. But I am not bothered much by such pedantically imperialistic concerns. For its blood pumping war action and martial arts choreography more than capably distracts my critical faculties. So much so, that I'm thankful now I don't write reviews for a living. At once sweeping yet intimately rendered, The Last Samurai is a prized find alongside Master and Cummander. Its a movie made by men, for men. Its sexist chauvism is delicious beyond reckoning. Me like.

Ok, enough gender trumpeting. Here's the review proper.

A film, however blindingly epic, will never work without the essential conduit of effective performances. I hence liked the fact that the film attempted to articulate depths in the two central male characters (Cruise and Watanabe). Both men are at war with external forces, at war with each other and most intriguing of all, at war with themselves. It came out the better for it.
Though outwardly a courageous man, a brilliant war tactician and a very tenacious soldier, Cruise's voice-overs (transcribed words in his journals) reveal him to be an empathetic man wounded by his war experiences, jaded by past betrayals and haunted by his stricken conscience. He just couldn't let go. Since Magnolia, Cruise has not delivered a performance I can condemn conscionably, here is another....
Ken Watanabe, the fierce and fearsome chief of the renegade Samurai tribe, transcended his external persona. In the quieter moments, the man exuded an aura of collected calm and kingly air of dignity. He is also a man of profound love for his family, his honour, his people and his emperor. The lordly charisma emanating from this man increases his verisimilitude as an inspiring leader. His men will follow him to the very ends of battles, even to their certain deaths. But he is no Godly being, for here too is a man who feels the weight of his duties/ responsibilties, who bears the very human burden of gradually losing his fight, upholding his ancestral Japanese traditions in the face of his country's ravaging modernity. I concur with his well-deserved Globe nomination. A Oscar berth need too be given.

Via their conversations and individual introspection, this film thus charted the respective emotional and spiritual journey embarked on by both men. Coursing through their respective gains and losses, the trust, friendship and collective experiences of the samurai and the warrior will put them both in good stead when their time comes.
But if I can have my way, I will vote for the stoic yet lovable "Bob" (heh). There is a point to this above jibe, of course. For The Last Samurai boasts of actors who are all round outstanding, from Cruise on down to the smallest soldier/ samurai. Every face with a close-up, big or small, delivered on their emotional cues, culminating into an ensemble resembling a well oiled machinery. There is an unforced honesty in the expressions of even them bit actors. I think this evocative Japanese-ness might have (by accident even) rubbed off on the film.
Both Cruise and Watanabe's characters are portrayed as ones well schooled (or interested) in the art of warfare and combat. This thus made TLS a very satisfying war movie for yours truly. There is a certain beauty in the orchestration of the battles. Very often, big scale cinematic war sequences are not well articulated enough to suck an audience into its core. To achieve this connection, a delicate balance need be struck within its ebb and flow. It needs to be skillfully alternating between the grandeur of the troop movements, the intimate nuances of the protagonists' characterisation while not losing sight of the intricacies of situational developments. The Last Samurai succeeded on all three counts. In fact. it's ingeniously rousing last stand with the enemies' meat grinding weaponries is one of the best rendered war action choreography I have the fortune of experiencing this millennium.
Goldwyn to Cruise: "Why do you hate your people so much?..."
Cruise to boy(or woman) later on in the flick: "..(Because) they have come to destroy the people I have come to love...."
Yes, this film reminded me of Dances with wolves (and similarly, Nowhere in Africa). I loved them all too. Cultural imperialists may have their field day with TLS, but I instinctively respond to such culture clashing films. Its not about which culture is more superior or more exoticised, it's about our mutual willingness to listen and learn from each other. For via these cross-pollination exercises, wisdom and insights are interchangeably imparted, along with other quaint and (maybe) useless customs. It's all about selective acceptance of the good and discarding the bad. Yes, I do opine that even films like TLS can teach us something in return. But it can only be learnt if one is open to its educational intent.