December 10, 2003 -- “The Last Samurai,” a story about an American warrior joining up with the last Samurai warriors in Japan, bears a lot of similarities to “Dances With Wolves,” Kevin Kostner's multi-Academy Award winning film. The obvious similarities are that both films feature disillusioned Civil War veterans, who both went on to fight in the Indian wars. Both are fed up with the hypocrisy of their own culture, and both find meaning in joining completely different cultures and people. Of course, there are differences in the films, too. “Dances With Wolves” is a film about unlikely friendships, while “The Last Samurai” is more of a film about ideas. The first film is more emotional, the latter, more anlytical.

This time, the civil war hero is played by Tom Cruise. After being thoroughly disillusioned by his country, Cruise, who plays Nathan Algren is reduced to selling guns for a gun manufacturer. An alcoholic, he is haunted by the memory of participating of the slaughter of Native American women and children in a massacre. After being fired from his gun hawking job, he gets another gig with the Japanese government. For a very large fee, he is hired to train the Japanese army how to use modern weapons and tactics.

Algren and his sidekick, Zebulon Gant (played by Billy Connolly of “Timeline”) jaunt off to Japan, where they encounter a government which is bitterly divided. The youthful Emperor Meiji is actually the puppet of powerful advisors and businessmen. The emperor's old mentor, and current advisor, Katsumoto (played by Ken Watanabe), is the last Samurai. He represents Japan's ancient traditions of loyalty, courage, fortitude and sacrifice, which are being trampled under a rush to industrialize and modernize. A battle has broken out against two factions within the government. One side, led by the evil advisor and businessman Omura (played by noted film director Masato Harada) is out to eliminate the other faction, led by Katsumoto. Some critics have framed this political dispute as follows: those who want to modernize Japan want to establish the rule of law, while the other faction, led by Katsumoto, want to retain the old feudal system. I don't buy that. If those who wanted to modernize Japan really were advocating the rule of law they would not have sent soldiers and ninja assassins to kill Katsumoto. Clearly, the “law and order” faction of the government is as at least as lawless as the so-called outlaw faction.

What we really have here is a clash between eastern and western philosophies. One side wants to retain the ideals of old Japan, while the other wants to adopt western ideas, mainly that of unfettered capitalism, which is essentially social Darwinism. Remember, this was before muckrakers, child labor laws, other labor-protection laws and the rise of labor unions, which served to mitigate some of the injustices of laissez-faire capitalism. The injustices of capitalism arise from the fact that economic power tends to gravitate toward a very small percentage of the population. Over time, that economic power becomes political power. The few end up ruling the many, just as in feudal Japan. So the argument that those defending Japan's old ideals are somehow morally inferior to the modernists just doesn't wash.

Algren has the army half-trained after a short time. Algren is ordered, over his objections that the army is not ready, to attack a band of Samurais led by Katsumoto. The army suffers a terrible defeat and Algren is captured. Algren is not killed because Katsumoto finds him interesting and admires his fighting spirit. He also wants to learn more about his enemy. Katsumoto treats his captive very well. Algren is tended cared for by the wife of a Samurai warrior that he killed in battle. As Algren recovers from his wounds he begins to understand more about the Samurai code and way of life, called Bushido, “the way of the warrior.” It turns out he has much more in common with these Samurai than he had with his own culture. In Bushido and Bhuddism, he finds ideals he can identify with and live by. He gradually becomes a Samurai himself. This leads to a final confrontation between the Samurai and the new Japanese army, led by his old Indian massacre nemesis Colonel Bagley (Tony Goldwyn of “Abandon”).

This film has a lot going for it, including good performances by all the main actors. One of the best performances is in a supporting role by Timothy Spall of “Nicholas Nickleby.” Spall plays Simon Graham, a western businessman, who, like Algren, is fascinated by the Samurai. Spall is a marvelous actor who specializes in slightly corrupt, but likeable characters. Billy Connolly also makes the most of his limited supporting role. Cruise, Wanatabe and the other key actors all give good performances. The trouble is, I did not find the story very compelling. One reason is the villains are pretty weak. Tony Goldwyn is good at playing villains, but Bagley and Omura are not really a match for the combination of Algren and Katsumoto. Bagley and Omura are posers. Algren and Katusmoto are the real thing. I also did not really get a good sense of the the reason for the conflict between Omura and Katsumoto, either. What led to the armed rebellion? It isn't clear. Katsumoto's story is based on the story of a real person in Japanese history, Saigo Takamori. His story is told in Ivan Morris’s book, “The Nobility of Failure.” Takamori helped create a new government in Japan, then rebelled against it. I'm not familiar with this period of Japanese history, called the Meiji Restoration, and I did not get a good sense of it from this movie. If the historical context had been better conveyed, it would have helped clarify the film.

What the film does have going for it are good performances, rousing battle scenes, high production values and meticulous attention to visual detail. The cinematography by John Toll (“Vanilla Sky”) is first-rate. This is a Samurai film in the tradition of such great films as Akira Kurosawa’s “The Seven Samurai.” Of course it isn't as great as the best Japanese Samurai films, but it is certainly a good, solid Samurai film. Director Edward Zwick (“Legends of the Fall,” “Courage Under Fire”) is a student of Kurosawa and it shows. He has a tremendous respect for Japanese culture and traditions and he is very familiar with Japanese film traditions as well. This Samurai film is a worthy addition to a great film tradition. It rates a B.

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Copyright © 2003 Robert Roten. All rights reserved.
Reproduced with the permission of the copyright holder.

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