Is that really so?

Rating: Null/10 (19 June 2006)

I see this movie as a story of bad materialistic Western people coming to Japan with their rifles, guns, machinery, business suits to destroy noble world of samurai, the world of old good Japan where personal bravery and honor were valued above all things. Instead of all this beauty the villains aim to establish a dull soulless world where money rules, where everything is bought and sold. Only few exceptional men among the white invaders, the noblest and bravest ones, like that guy Algren, able to understand and choose the right side. Shame, shame on us, Westerners, and especially shame on Americans, the worst Westerners of all. Which left me wondering: Is that really so? Was Western influence on Japan that bad? Was the old ways of Japan that good? Maybe there is something wrong with the picture?