The Last Samurai
posted by NotAnyRon on December 27, 2003
Edward Zwick
-
2003
Rarely does a film offend me, but surprisingly this one did it.
It wasn't the violence that bothered me. This was actually done fairly tastefully. The worst of the violence was just offscreen and implied rather than shown. The samurai sword fights were entertaining, but not close to being among the best the screen has seen.
It wasn't the multi-racial and multi-ethnic romance that disturbed me. That was understated and finely portrayed. One of the most beautiful scenes involves Taka, played by Koyuki, dressing Algren (Tom Cruise) in her dead husband's armor. This is the stand-in for a sex scene in the film and I was reminded of the old code movies where sex was implied instead of shown. It is also fun that Cruise is being dressed in this scene, rather than undressed. This heightens the sexual tension and makes the sequence extremely sensual.
What truly bothered me is the way the film dealt with the clash of Western and Eastern cultures. The film showed a trite, politically correct view of an extremely complex topic. This simplification not only gives the characters fewer dimensions (and therefore makes for a somewhat predictable story), but it makes me feel like the filmmakers didn't trust in my intelligence.
As I was attempting to elucidate cogent arguments both for and against the modernization of indigenous peoples of the world, I realized I had no real information on the topic. I did recognize that this film was attempting to put a simplistic spin on the issue by glamorizing the "savage" culture of the samurai while demonizing the modern, polluting ways of the West. The irony of it all is, in this film, it takes a white man (Cruise, of course) to make the Japanese Emperor realize that his own culture is worth saving. This simultaneously raises the West to its "rightful" position of power while reinforcing the stereotype of the helpless savage.
Films like this make me realize why I seek out and enjoy independent and "small" films more often than I enjoy Hollywood fare. It seems that my music selection has been synchronous with what I'm trying to get across in my reviews. John Lennon: "I'm sick to death of seeing things from tight lipped-condescending-mommies little chauvinists. All I want is the truth just gimme some truth." It seems I won't often find truth when box office success is at stake. Just tight lipped-condescension.