Art, Beauty, and Emotion

Rating: 10/10 (7 December 2003)

Art. If I had to say one thing about this movie, this would be it. Art. When the movie started, I have to say that I expected something completely different. I have always had a profound respect for Japanese culture and the idea of mainstream producers trying to handle it scared me. So many times, I've seen the Japanese culture shown from either the perspective of World War II, where they are crazed killers, or from different but still americanized perspectives.

The Last Samurai completely breaks from this paradigm and goes on to offer so much more. From the time that Japan is first shown in a sweeping panorama, the verisimilitude to the real Japan is truly wonderful. My Japanese foreign exchange student was shocked that Americans could make something so accurate and beautiful. The scenery and cinematography cannot be described, and the attention to detail is exquisite.

But perhaps the greatest innovation of this movie is its depiction of Japanese culture, especially way of the warrior, or bushido. Through marvelous directing and a wonderful script of subtitled Japanese and English, The Last Samurai succeeds in conveying and truly imprinting the deep emotion and tradition behind Japanese culture.

As a whole, the movie depicted beautifully both peaceful Japanese life and the insanity of the battlefield. For me, finding beauty in killing was a paradox but this movie proved my conceptions wrong. Watching this movie was an emotional roller coaster, an eye-opening experience, and an insight into the true Japanese culture. I will defiantly see it again.