Customer Reviews

Samurai Rebellion [VHS]

5 star:		(34)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
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One of the 15 best movies ever made! (Witness the fact that all Amazon reviewers (22 of them) give it five stars!). The plot is
quite interesting. A woman, Lady Ichi, is forced by the regional Lord to marry into the family of a vassal (Samurai Isaburo played by the incomparable Toshiro Mifune) because she insulted the Lord in public. After two years, Isaburo's son and Lady Ichi fall in love; they have a daughter. All is well except it becomes convenient for the Lord to demand return of the woman and annul the marriage...thus Lady Ichi is twice betrayed. Samurai Isaburo is incensed. He and his son resist the claim of the Lord to take the woman back and literally fight to the death for the right of Lady Ichi and his son to love each other and legitimize the daughter. Throughout, the movie is quite sympathetic to women issues and Lady Ichi is portrayed magnificently.

What makes the movie so outstanding is the way in which sound, music, and photography are combined to reinforce the themes of the film. Literally, every frame of the movie has some symbolic significance: the positions of the parties, the carefully phrased speech of the protoganists and agonists, the sound of wind. Every frame is an art piece - like a still life. (This is the style of another of the director's masterpieces of historical Japan - HARAKIRI). If THRONE OF BLOOD is the Japanese version of Macbeth, SAMURAI REBLLION is the Japanese version of the Iliad. I loved it.

I won't repeat details of the plot here, suffice to say that I found it completely gripping. I was very tired when I started to watch this, looking for an excuse to go to bed: None came, I was glued to the screen for the two hours and couldn't look away. A great story of a family wronged by their tyrannical lord, and the unwinnable fight they embark on.
Kobayashi's cinematography is brilliant, with virtually frame by frame composition of the picture. Soon you come to appreciate the black and white format as an asset used to underline the theme of geometry throughout the picture, with a high quality transfer to DVD.
Kobayashi also directed Harakiri, which I was equally impressed with. Both movies are quintessential Japanese cinema and an excellent investment.

To be a samurai meant owing nearly absolute allegiance to the leader of one's clan, the daimyo. One often filmed story is about 47 loyal samurai committing harakiri en masse when their clan is disbanded. But what happens when the daimyo is unjust and plays with the lives of his loyal samurai?

In SAMURAI REBELLION, a young samurai is forced by his daimyo to marry a difficult mistress who had dared to manhandle him. Lady Ichi surprisingly turns out to be a jewel, and Yogoro, her new husband, grows to love her. When the daimyo changes his mind and has her kidnapped after several unsuccessful attempts to bully the family, Yogoro and his father Itaburo (Toshiro Mifune) singlehandedly take on the whole clan.

Before you know it, the blades are out of their sheathes, and bodies are falling all over the place. Particularly spectacular is a duel between Itaburo and his friend Tatewaki (played by the great Tatsuya Nakadai) in a windswept field of grass. Director Masaki Kobayashi (KWAIDAN, HARAKIRI) is at his best here; and numerous scenes are icily controlled and eerily beautiful as he guides his camera, breaking down sequences into abstract geometrical patterns.

I can't help remembering the song in the musical BANDWAGON which summarizes HAMLET as "The king and the prince meet / And everyone ends up mincemeat." As in HARAKIRI, there is a point to the mayhem here: The honor of a single family CAN outweigh the honor of the clan.

With well-developed characters, and outstanding actors, director Masaki Kobayashi, filmed not only a classic samurai film, but a great dramatic film as well. In fact, it is less a samurai film than a drama dealing with life during the Tokugawa era. This classic samurai film stars the legendary actor, (Toshiro Mifune) as Isaburo Sasahara. During the samurai period the daimyo, [the feudal lord], controlled the goings on of his samurai. One of these, Lord Masakata Matsudaira (Tatsuo Matsumura) has ordered that one of his concubine, Lady Ichi (Yoko Tsukasa) be banished from his sight. However, since she is the mother of his son, she cannot be treated indifferently. Therefore, it is arranged that she be married to the son of one of his loyal samurai. The son, Yagoro Sasahara (Go Kat) is the eldest son of the loyal samurai, Isaburo Sasahara (Toshiro Mifune).

However, even though the marriage is arranged, the two soon fall in love. Moreover, the two eventually have a daughter, Tomi. Seeing that his son has found love [something Isaburo has never known with his own wife], Isaburo decides to retire and make his son Yogoro head of the family clan. Meanwhile, Matsudaira's eldest son has died, making Ichi's son the heir. When Matsudaira demands that Lady Ichi return to the castle immediately, Yogoro refuses. The always loyal Isaburo backs his son up on this too. Yet, the lord shows no loyalty as he has Lady Ichi kidnapped. This creates a problem for Matsudaira, as he has wronged Yogoro. Therefore, in the eyes of the Shogunate, Yogoro is right, and Matsudaira is wrong. As a result, Matsudaira tries to save face with a show of force.

What eventually ensues is a showdown between Isaburo and his good friend Tatewaki Asano (Tatsuya Nakadai). Tatewaki Asano is an honorable man, and good friend, but as the film shows, it is loyalty that is at the heart of the film. Loyalty [whether deserving or not] that lead these two samurai to their eventual duel. Moreover, the film is a drama that must be played out. As I wrote in the beginning of this review, the film is more drama than your usual samurai film. And this is good, and necessary for this particular film. The drama unfolding in the film is important for setting up the story and suspense which will manifest itself in the end. This is one of the better samurai films out there, with an excellent cast and terrific story. It is highly recommended. [Stars: 5+]

Oh, how I love this film! Few things give me as much pleasure as seeing Toshiro Mifune and Tatsuya Nakadai together on screen--and here they really shine. Both are strong and honorable in a great story that explores emotion in a way I've rarely encountered in Japanese film, or in any cinema depicting the lives of tough men in troubled times. A bold, brutal and touching masterpiece.

"The Greatest Evil is when Good Men do nothing in the face of Injustice..."
SAMURAI REBELLION (1967) is directed by Masaki Kobayashi, the same director responsible for the awesome KWAIDAN and the far superior samurai film "Hara-Kiri". Don't get me wrong, this film is a true emotional achievement by Kobayashi, the drama and intense screenplay is magnificent that even the awesome swordplay displayed onscreen seemed utterly unnecessary. "Samurai Rebellion" is a stunning masterpiece in Japanese cinema, originally titled Joiuchi Hairyo tsuma Shimatsu (Rebellion, Receive the Wife) is a tale of righteous rebellion to protect a husband and his wife's honor.

Peacetime. A retainer in the Matsudaira clan named Isaburo Sasahara (Toshiro Mifune) is a retiring samurai who seeks a wife for his son Yogoro (Go Kato). However, his Clan Lord orders him to have his son marry a woman named Ichi (Yoko Tsukasa). She is the Lord's mistress and she has just given birth to his son. Ichi has caused a scandal and has been dismissed from the castle for striking Lord Matsudaira. Isaburo refuses to the union until the son himself agrees to the marriage.
Surprisingly, Ichi proves to be a worthy wife; she and Yogoro get along famously and she bears him a daughter. Then the unexpected happens, Matsudaira's heir dies, which makes Ichi's son the heir apparent. Matsudaira decides to forgive Ichi for striking him and requests her return to his castle, since the mother of the heir cannot be married to a vassal. Ichi refuses and decides to stay married to Yogoro. Ruin may come to the house of Sasahara as Isaburo and his son decides to disobey; the Azu clan has gone too far.

The film is a stunning portrayal of righteousness in the face of injustice. The film effectively explores the social impact of rebellion in the midst of a totalitarian excesses in the Edo Period in Japan as well as the domestic tragedy of the honorable men and the wife who precipitated the events. As in "Hara-Kiri", Kobayashi gives a very bleak view of the political and social injustices committed by self-indulgent authority figures. Kobayashi further delves into the emotional expression of similar themes about family and honor. The main characters are victims of fate, and the lead characters stand tall in their righteous indignations. Even Isaburo's close friend; Tatewaki Asano (played by Tatsuya Nakadai, Hara-Kiri, Sword of Doom) is also a victim of his principles and fate. Tatewaki was instructed to engage Isaburo in combat since he is the only one who may be able to defeat him in a duel, and as much as he tries to stall the inevitable encounter, he ends up crossing swords with his old friend nonetheless.

Ichi is the most interesting female character I've ever come across in chambara films. She is strong-willed and while she did give in to Matsudaira's orders before, she is unmoved to suffer the same injustice a second time. Pressured by relatives to avoid the ruin of the Sasahara family, the woman is such a sight to behold; she outshines the heroism of the two men bent on defending her. Most classic chambara films portray Japanese women as a demure, obedient and ideal wives, and while Ichi's character are all those things; Yoko Tsukasa's devastating performance has created a character far stronger than the all the males around her; this includes her husband, played by Go Sato and her father-in-law, played by Toshiro Mifune.

Toshiro Mifune's character, Isaburo is a master swordsman, whose skills have earned him the position of weapons keeper in the clan. While he did marry his wife out for the sake of social status, never for one moment that his character felt weak. Quite curious that this past may have contributed to the reasons as to why the father would support his son's decisions to disobey their lord. For him, love is a cause worth fighting for, even if it would mean his family's ruin. Yogoro is a man divided in doing his duty to his lord and to his wife, Go Kato bears his soul in his portrayal though his screen time may be limited. The actor efficiently and effectively shows all the needed emotions that an overwhelmed husband would feel.

While I did say that the film didn't need any swordplay to emulate the darkness and intensity of the proceedings, we get it anyway. Toshiro Mifune once again proves why he is among the most loved actors to ever play a samurai warrior. The swordplay is realistic and intense, and follows the choreography that we have been privy to in past samurai films. Adding the strong exclamation point brought about by the duel with his Tatsuya Nakadai, the film satisfies those looking for swordplay action. Which also brings us to the film's one possible very minor fault, the bloodshed near the climax seemed a bit pointless, since the dilemma is over but I suppose the screenplay by Hashimoto Shinobu wanted to end the film with an exciting element for international audiences. (The title has been changed to fit international marketing)

In Samurai Rebellion, director Kobayashi has taken his character study of individuals pushed against their emotional tolerances to the absolute limit. He successfully overcomes the stereotype that samurai films are composed of manly swordfights and has given new emphasis on the strengths of the Japanese woman and the aspects of family. In doing so, he has widened his scope and elevated the film's emotional potential.

Highest Possible Recommendation! [5- Stars]

I am a big Kurosawa fan, so I don't make the following statement lightly: this film is as good as any thing Kurosawa directed.
The film explores the boundaries of loyalty; loyalty to the clan, loyalty to Bushido, loyalty to family, and, most importantly, loyalty to Love.
It is set in peacetime in the 17th century; the civil wars are over, and there's not much for the protagonist samurai (Toshiro Mifune)to do except his bureaucratic clan duties. The head of the clan forces Mifune's son to marry a cast-off mistress. Mifune and his son then discover what a jewel the woman is when surrounded by a family's love. The clan leader later demands the woman back. Simple plot. However, this demand for the woman's return brings all the competing loyalties into conflict. What Mifune and his son (and the woman) decide to do by way of response is noble, truly noble. They show their ultimate loyalty to the love they have for each other. Of course, this draws down on them confrontation with the clan, with Bushido, and with every norm of samurai life of the time.
The lesson I get from this movie is that one must live (and die) for the very best of values; the love between people.
I hope that Criterion makes this into a DVD. The film deserves it.

This movie asks several basic questions. Just how far should a samurai's loyalty to his master go? When does the master's demands become unreasonable? And what should a samurai do, when faced with a master's injustice? To modern-day Westerners, the answers may seem obvious. But in 18th century Japan, personal feelings took a backseat to duty.

In Samurai Rebellion, the main character Isaburo (played by Toshiro Mifune) must decide whether to challenge his overlord's decision to take back a former mistress who had become Isaburo's daughter-in-law. The title of the movie should give you a clue to Isaburo's decision. The big sword fight in this film is worth watching, simply because of the rage boiling inside Isaburo. This is swordplay that actually has passion, as opposed to the run-of-the-mill fighting you often see in lesser movies.

The film's director Masaki Kobayashi always made thoughtful dramas that often examined injustice in society. Those who like this movie should also check out two of his other masterpieces, Harakiri and The Human Condition (a nine-hour trilogy).

Extremely moving film about a samurai family that defies the will of a lord, and in so doing questions the moral and social order in feudal Japan. Beautiful, perfectly composed, with an unforgettable dramatic ending.

"Samurai Rebellion" ("Jôi-uchi: Hairyô tsuma shimatsu") offers the most familiar face in samurai films, Toshirô Mifune, as a grandfather who is pushed to act against the wishes of his lord all in the name of love. That should be enough to get you interested in Masaki Kobayashi's 1967 film, which is set in 1725 during a peaceful period for the Tokugawa Shogunate. The daimyo Lord Masakata Matsudaira (Tatsuo Matsumura) has ordered his concubine, the Lady Ichi (Yôko Tsukasa), exiled from his castle. Having just born Matsudaira a son, the Lady Ichi has slapped her lord around when she returned from a spa and found another woman in her place. The mother of one of the lord's sons cannot be disposed of, so Matsudaira's superintendent arranged for her to be married to Yogoro Sasahara (Go Katô), the eldest son of the loyal Isaburo Sasahara (Mifune).

Isaburo's shrewish wife, Suga (Michiko Otsuka), complains that the family can not be dishonored by taking the shamed woman into their house and the henpecked Isaburo tried to decline. However, this proves impossible and Yogoro and Ichi are married. Although the marriage is arranged, the two fall in love, and have a daughter, Tomi. Content that his son has a happy marriage, when he has never seen a shred of love in his own, Isaburo retires and makes Yogoro head of the Sasahara clan. The old man seems content to play with his granddaughter. But then Matsudaira's oldest son dies, making Ichi's son the heir, and he demands she return to the castle. Yogoro refuses to let his wife go and his father backs him in his decision, while the rest of the family insists Ichi be sent packing. This sets up a deadly chess game between the two clans.

It is Matsudaira who makes the big mistakes, having Ichi kidnapped instead of ordering his vassal to have her returned. Now it is Yogoro who is in the right in the eyes of the Shogunate, and Matsudaira must do anything he can to save face. This sets up the fatal confrontation when the superintendent shows up with the Lady Ichi and a whole lot of samurai to try and force the desired resolution. It takes three quarters of this movie before Isaburo finally draws his sword, but then we are in for some serious swordplay by Mifune, which leads to a fateful duel with his friend, the honorable samurai Tatewaki Asano (Tatsuya Nakadai), that underscores that honor under obligation to obedience rather than truth is questionable.

Some might think it takes too long to get to the action in "Samurai Rebellion," but I should point out the literal translation of the title is "Receive the Wife." The acceptance of Ichi by her husband and father-in-law, and her decision to forget about her son to become a true member of her name family, constitute the drama that sets up the action. The Ichi and Yogoro fall in love is what moves Isaburo to take his stand and defy both his wife and his lord, with his righteous anger supported by the best sword arm in the province for the first time in his life Isaburo feels truly alive.

Shinobu Hashimoto's script, based on a novel by Yasuhiko Takiguchi, builds the tension slowly, and while the pace may be unacceptable to some devotes of samurai films it is totally appropriate to this story. Ultimately this is a character drama and what matters is how the three main characters come to the point where they choose their fates, refusing to be shackled any longer by their obligations to their liege lord. The point of "Samurai Rebellion" has been made before the first sword is drawn and what happens after that point is just playing out the inevitable tragedy. The film also offers Kazuo Yamada's beautiful black & white cinematography along with the elegant ballet of swordplay both in the Sasahara courtyard and in front of the gate on the road to Edo.

"Samurai Rebellion" is part of the recently released "Rebel Samurai: Sixties Swordplay Classics" collector's set put out by the Criterion Collection. This set also includes Hideo Gosha's "Sword of the Beast," Masahiro Shinoda's "Samurai Spy," and Kihachi Okamoto's Italian western-influenced "Kill!" The films are also available separately. As near as I can tell "Samurai Rebellion" has been more available of these "chambara" films in the past, so it is nice that the others are getting the chance for samurai fans to check out. Unfortunately the special features on these discs are pretty sparse: all you get here is the trailer and a brief interview with director Masaki Kobayashi. This is rather surprising because you would think there would be volunteers lining up to do a Criterion Collection caliber commentary track.