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26 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent viewing., October 15, 2001
I enjoy Japanese films, and Toshiro Mifune is one of my favorite actors. Samurai I Musashi Miyamoto, the first of a trilogy by Inagaki, is an excellent example of the genre, justly winning an Academy Award for best foreign film in 1955. In color, which many of the other Japanese films in my collection are not, the cinematography is lovely. Although lacking some of the artistic panache of Kurosawa's or Kobayashi's work, Inogaki's film is not the less visually satisfying for it. Whereas both Kurosawa and Kobayashi's films seem at times too constrained with respect to set, color and special effects which at times distracts from the main theme of their story, Inagaki's Samurai I relies on the natural charms of the Japanese countryside and its national architectural style. Some of the settings are exquisite, and the buildings have an almost Frank Lloyd Wright fitness, complimenting their environment without being intrusive.The story has a dramatist's sense of character development. The growth of the central character Takezo, for instance, from a selfish unruly youth, shunned even by members of his own family, to samurai "intern" is thoroughly credible. Like the anti-hero in The Red Badge of Courage, he learns that war is anything but high drama, the mere stage upon which a young man may play out his role, earning glory and wealth in the process, and is, instead, everything about hard choices, survival, and, at times, lost causes. The real hero of the work, in my opinion, is the priest Takuan, whose own story might make a good film. It certainly made me curious. He cunningly captures the renegade wild man Takezo, depending upon a rational rather than a brute force approach. Thereafter he puts the young man first through a rough period meant to break him--much like the wild horse that Takuan himself tried to break earlier in the film--and then imprisons him with a library of books and plenty of undisturbed time in which to read them. (My one criticism would be that I find it difficult to believe that so many common people were literate at this time in Japanese history, although I admit to little knowledge of it.) The hero's friend, Matahachi, makes a perfect foil for Takezo. He has responsibilities, a place in society, and much to live for, yet throws it away to join in the dangerous pursuit of fame and glory. When confronted with temptations, he gives in, and although he chastises himself for his weakness, he doesn't learn from his mistakes. Near the end of the film he bitterly blames his wife for his disappointments, unable even as an adult to take responsibility for his own poor decisions. The film has several strong female characters. The young orphan Otsu, the heroine, is loyalty itself. When she realizes she has put the young Takezo in a very bad position by assisting in his capture and that she is herself a prisoner of her circumstances, she frees him and flees with him to the wilderness. Her own loss should he abandon her would have been immeasurable, helpless as she is without family to rely upon, yet she evinces a belief in his goodness that helps shape the new man will become. The two woman living on the battle field are powerful survivors. They do what they must to create a life for themselves, and although they later fall into a life of self indulgence, their gender and their lack of connections within traditional society leaves them few choices. They are the people that circumstances have made them, while Matahachi, who is again a perfect foil with his youth, his gender, his family ties, and his prospects, becomes the person he is by poor choices and an inability to accept responsibility for them. This is a thoroughly satisfying film, and I expect to purchase the others in the collection as I can afford to do so.
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DVD ~ Toshirô Mifune
DVD ~ Toshirô Mifune
DVD ~ Toshirô Mifune
DVD ~ Tatsuya Nakadai
DVD ~ Toshirô Mifune
