In 1876, former U.S. Army Captain Nathan Algren, a skilled soldier who has become a bitter alcoholic traumatized by the atrocities he committed and witnessed during the American Indian Wars, is approached by his former commanding officer Colonel Bagley. Bagley asks him to train the newly created Imperial Japanese Army for a Japanese businessman, Omura, who intends to use the army to suppress a samurai-headed rebellion against Japan's new emperor. Despite his hatred of Bagley, the impoverished Algren takes the job for the money. He is accompanied to Japan by his old friend, Sergeant Zebulon Gant. Upon arriving, Algren meets Simon Graham, a British translator knowledgeable about the samurai.
Algren learns that the imperial soldiers are simply conscripted peasants with shoddy training and little discipline. As Algren trains them to shoot, news arrives of a samurai attack on one of Omura's railroads. Against Algren's wishes, Omura sends the soldiers in pursuit of the samurai. The battle turns into a disaster as the recruits are quickly routed and flee, and Gant is killed. Algren fights to the last before he is surrounded; wounded and expecting to die, he is taken prisoner when samurai leader Katsumoto spares him.
Algren is taken to Katsumoto's village and, at Katsumoto's request, is taken in and tended to by Taka, Katsumoto's sister, who Algren later realizes is the widow of a samurai he killed before being taken prisoner. While he is poorly treated at first, he eventually gains the samurai's respect and grows close to Katsumoto. With the help of Taka, Algren overcomes his alcoholism and guilt, learns the Japanese language and culture, and is trained in the art of kenjutsu. He develops sympathy for the samurai, who are upset that the pace of modern technology has eroded the traditions of their society. Algren and Taka develop an unspoken affection for each other.
One night, a group of ninja infiltrate the village and ambush Katsumoto. Algren saves Katsumoto's life, and then helps defend the village, concluding that Omura is responsible. Katsumoto requests a meeting with Emperor Meiji in Tokyo. He brings Algren, intending to release him. Upon arriving in Tokyo, Algren sees that the Imperial Army has become a well-trained and fully equipped force led by Bagley. Katsumoto, to his dismay, discovers that the young and inexperienced emperor has become a puppet of Omura. At a government meeting, Omura orders Katsumoto's arrest for carrying a sword in public and tells him to perform seppuku the next day to redeem his honor. Meanwhile, Algren refuses Omura's offer to resume command of the army. After defeating Imperial agents sent by Omura to assassinate him, Algren enlists Graham and Katsumoto's men to free their leader. During the rescue, Katsumoto's son Nobutada is mortally wounded, his sacrifice allowing the others to escape.
As the Imperial Army marches to crush the rebellion, a grieving Katsumoto contemplates seppuku. Algren convinces him to fight, and pledges to join the samurai in battle. They arrive back at the village, and Algren is reunited with Taka and her children. On the morning of the impending battle, Taka prepares Algren by carefully dressing him in her late husband's samurai armor, and Katsumoto presents him with a newly-forged samurai sword engraved with an inscription dubbing Algren "the warrior in which the old ways have joined the new."
On the battlefield, Algren and Katsumoto meet with Omura and Bagley for parley; Bagley offers terms of surrender to Katsumoto, which he refuses. The samurai use the Imperial Army's overconfidence to lure them into a trap; the ensuing battle inflicts massive casualties on both sides and forces the imperial soldiers to retreat. Knowing that imperial reinforcements are coming, and defeat is inevitable, Katsumoto orders a suicidalcavalry charge on horseback. The samurai withstand an artillery barrage and break through Bagley's line. Algren kills Bagley, but the samurai are quickly mowed down by Gatling guns. The imperial captain, previously trained by Algren and horrified by the sight of the dying samurai, orders the soldiers to cease fire, outraging Omura. Katsumoto, mortally wounded, commits seppuku with Algren's help as the soldiers kneel in respect.
Later, as trade negotiations conclude, the injured Algren interrupts the proceedings. He presents the emperor with Katsumoto's sword and asks him to remember the traditions for which Katsumoto and his fellow samurai fought and died. The emperor realizes that while Japan should modernize, it can't forget its own culture and history. He rejects the trade offer, and when Omura protests, the emperor tells him he has done enough and threatens to seize his fortune and distribute it to the people. Omura angrily protests, but when the emperor tells him to commit seppuku to prove his disgrace, he shrinks away in humiliation. After Omura accepts defeat, the emperor asks Algren how Katsumoto died, to which Algren responds that he will instead tell the emperor how he lived.
While various rumors regarding Algren's fate circulate, Graham concludes that Algren had returned to the village to reunite with Taka.
Ken Watanabe as Lord Moritsugu Katsumoto, the eponymous "Last Samurai," a former daimyo who was once Emperor Meiji's most trusted teacher. His displeasure with the influence of Omura and other Western reformers on the Emperor lead him to organize his fellow samurai in a revolt, which he hopes will convince the government not to destroy the samurai's place in Japanese society. Katsumoto is based on real-life samurai Saigō Takamori, who led the Satsuma Rebellion.
Koyuki as Taka Katsumoto, widow of a samurai slain by Nathan Algren and younger sister of Moritsugu. She and Algren develop feelings for each other, and she gives him her husband's armor to wear in the final battle of the rebellion.
Timothy Spall as Simon Graham, a British photographer and scholar hired as an interpreter for Captain Algren and his non-English speaking soldiers. Initially portrayed as a friendly yet mission-oriented and practical-minded companion, he later comes to sympathize with the samurai cause and helps Algren rescue Katsumoto from Imperial soldiers. Graham is loosely based on real-life British Japanologist Ernest Mason Satow, who befriended Saigō Takamori during the Satsuma rebellion.
Shin Koyamada as Moritsugu Nobutada, Katsumoto's only son and lord of the village where Algren is sent. Nobutada befriends Algren when Katsumoto assigns him to teach Algren Japanese culture and the Japanese language. He dies when he willingly chooses to distract Imperial troops so his father can escape their custody.
Tony Goldwyn as Colonel Bagley, Nathan Algren's former commanding officer in the 7th Cavalry Regiment. Ruthless and amoral, Bagley convinces Algren to serve as a training instructor for the Imperial Army despite Algren's hatred of Bagley for his role in the Washita River massacre. In contrast to Algren, Bagley is arrogant and dismissive of the samurai, at one point referring to them as nothing more than "savages with bows and arrows". He is killed by Algren who throws a sword into his chest when Bagley tries to shoot Katsumoto in the final battle.
Masato Harada as Matsue Omura, an industrialist and pro-reform politician. He quickly imports Westernization and modernization while making money for himself through his ownership of Japan's railroads. Coming from a merchant family, a social class repressed during the days of Shogun rule, Omura openly expresses his contempt for the samurai and takes advantage of Emperor Meiji's youth to become his chief advisor, persuading him to form a Western-style army for the sole purpose of wiping out Katsumoto and his rebels while ignoring their grievances. His appearance is designed to evoke the image of Okubo Toshimichi, a leading reformer during the Meiji Restoration. Harada noted that he was deeply interested in joining the film after witnessing the construction of Emperor Meiji's conference room on sound stage 19 (where Humphrey Bogart had once acted) at Warner Brothers studios.[citation needed]
Shichinosuke Nakamura as Emperor Meiji. Credited with the implementation of the Meiji reforms to Japanese society, the Emperor is eager to import Western ideas and practices to modernize and empower Japan to become a strong nation. However, his inexperience causes him to rely heavily on the advice of men like Omura, who have their own agendas. His appearance bears a strong resemblance to Emperor Meiji during the 1860s (when his authority as Emperor was not yet firmly established) rather than during the 1870s, when the film takes place.
Hiroyuki Sanada as Ujio, a master swordsman and one of Katsumoto's most trusted followers. Initially showing the most disdain towards Algren during the latter's time in captivity, he teaches Algren the art of sword fighting, coming to respect him as an equal. He is one of the last samurai to die in the final battle, being gunned down during Katsumoto's charge.
Seizo Fukumoto as Silent Samurai, an elderly samurai tasked with monitoring Algren during his time in the village, who calls the samurai "Bob". "Bob" ultimately saves Algren's life (and speaking for the first and only time, "Algren-san!") by taking a bullet meant for him in the final battle.
Billy Connolly as Sergeant Zebulon Gant, an Irish American Civil War veteran who served with and is loyal to Algren, persuading him to come to Japan and working with him to train the Imperial Army. During the first battle, he is killed by Hirotaro (Taka's husband) after being wounded with a spear.
Shun Sugata as Nakao, a tall samurai who wields a naginata and is skilled in jujutsu. He assists Algren in rescuing Katsumoto and dies along with the other samurai in the final battle.
Togo Igawa as General Hasegawa, a former Samurai serving in the Imperial Japanese Army. He commits seppuku after the first battle.
The producer's involvement in the film was originally developed in 1992 when Interscope Communications, a predecessor to Radar Pictures, developed the film, which was originally written by Michael Alan Eddy. Eddy sued the film's producers in 2004 claiming the WGA and Warner Bros. refused to give him credit.[7]
Filming took place in New Zealand, mostly in the Taranaki region,[8] with mostly Japanese cast members and an American production crew. This location was chosen due to the fact that Egmont/Mount Taranaki resembles Mount Fuji, and also because there is a lot of forest and farmland in the Taranaki region. American Location Manager Charlie Harrington saw the mountain in a travel book and encouraged the producers to send him to Taranaki to scout the locations. This acted as a backdrop for many scenes, as opposed to the built up cities of Japan. Several of the village scenes were shot on the Warner Bros. Studiosbacklot in Burbank, California. Some scenes were shot in Kyoto and Himeji, Japan. There were 13 filming locations altogether. Tom Cruise did his own stunts for the film.
The film is based on an original screenplay entitled The Last Samurai by John Logan. The project itself was inspired by writer and director Vincent Ward. Ward became executive producer on the film – working in development on it for nearly four years and after approaching several directors, including Francis Ford Coppola and Peter Weir, until he became interested with Edward Zwick. The film production went ahead with Zwick and was shot in Ward's native New Zealand.
Cinematographer John Toll invited Gary Capo on the project to serve as second unit director and cinematographer. Capo specifically supervised a lot of the filming of the climatic battle sequence between the Japanese army and the samurai.[9]
The Last Samurai had its world premiere in Tokyo in November 20, 2003. The film was released worldwide to theaters on December 5, 2003, by Warner Bros. Pictures.
Reception
Critical response
Critical reception in Japan was generally positive.[12] Tomomi Katsuta of The Mainichi Shinbun thought that the film was "a vast improvement over previous American attempts to portray Japan", noting that director Edward Zwick "had researched Japanese history, cast well-known Japanese actors and consulted dialogue coaches to make sure he didn't confuse the casual and formal categories of Japanese speech." Katsuta still found fault with the film's idealistic, "storybook" portrayal of the samurai, stating: "Our image of samurai is that they were more corrupt." As such, he said, the noble samurai leader Katsumoto "set my teeth on edge."[13]
In the United States, review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 66% of critics have given the film a positive review based on 221 reviews, with an average score of 6.4/10. The site's consensus states: "With high production values and thrilling battle scenes, The Last Samurai is a satisfying epic."[14] At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted mean rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film received an average score of 55, based on reviews from 43 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[15]
Roger Ebert of Chicago Sun-Times gave the film three and a half stars out of four, saying "beautifully designed, intelligently written, acted with conviction, it's an uncommonly thoughtful epic."[16]
One online analyst compares the movie favorably to Dances with Wolves in that each protagonist meets and combats a "technologically backward people". Both Costner's and Cruise's characters have suffered through a series of traumatic and brutal battles. Each ultimately uses his experiences to later assist his new friends. Each comes to respect his newly adopted culture. Each even fights with his new community against the people and traditions from which he came.[17]
Box office
The film achieved higher box office receipts in Japan than in the United States.[18] Upon its debut, it collected a total opening weekend gross of $8 million.[19] Overall, it ranked number two at the box office behind Finding Nemo.[20] It became the highest-grossing R-rated film there, surpassing The Matrix Reloaded.[21] The film grossed $456.8 million against a production budget of $140 million. It grossed $111,127,263 in the United States and Canada, and $345,631,718 in other countries.[22] It was one of the most successful box office hits in Japan,[23] where it grossed ¥13.7 billion ($132 million).[24]
The Seikanron debate of 1873. Saigō Takamori insisted that Japan should go to war with Korea.
Motoko Rich of The New York Times observed that the film has opened up a debate, "particularly among Asian-Americans and Japanese," about whether the film and others like it were "racist, naïve, well-intentioned, accurate – or all of the above."[13]
Todd McCarthy, a film critic for the Variety magazine, wrote: "Clearly enamored of the culture it examines while resolutely remaining an outsider's romanticization of it, yarn is disappointingly content to recycle familiar attitudes about the nobility of ancient cultures, Western despoilment of them, liberal historical guilt, the unrestrainable greed of capitalists and the irreducible primacy of Hollywood movie stars."[26]
According to the history professor Cathy Schultz, "Many samurai fought Meiji modernization not for altruistic reasons but because it challenged their status as the privileged warrior caste. Meiji reformers proposed the radical idea that all men essentially being equal.... The film also misses the historical reality that many Meiji policy advisors were former samurai, who had voluntarily given up their traditional privileges to follow a course they believed would strengthen Japan."[27]
The fictional character of Katsumoto bears a striking resemblance to the historical figure of Saigō Takamori, a hero of the Meiji Restoration and the leader of the ineffective Satsuma Rebellion, who appears in the histories and legends of modern Japan as a hero against the corruption, extravagance, and unprincipled politics of his contemporaries. "Though he had agreed to become a member of the new government," wrote the translator and historian Ivan Morris, "it was clear from his writings and statements that he believed the ideals of the civil war were being vitiated. He was opposed to the excessively rapid changes in Japanese society and was particularly disturbed by the shabby treatment of the warrior class." Suspicious of the new bureaucracy, he wanted power to remain in the hands of the samurai class and the Emperor, and for those reasons, he had joined the central government. "Edicts like the interdiction against carrying swords and wearing the traditional topknot seemed like a series of gratuitous provocations; and, though Saigō realized that Japan needed an effective standing army to resist pressure from the West, he could not countenance the social implications of the military reforms. For this reason Saigō, although participating in the Okinoerabu government, continued to exercise a powerful appeal among disgruntled ex-samurai in Satsuma and elsewhere." Saigō fought for a moral revolution, not a material one, and he described his revolt as a check on the declining morality of a new, Westernizing materialism.[28]
In 2014, the movie was one of several discussed by Keli Goff in The Daily Beast in an article on white savior narratives in film,[29] a cinematic trope studied in sociology, for which The Last Samurai has been analyzed.[30] David Sirota at Salon saw the film as "yet another film presenting the white Union army official as personally embodying the North's Civil War effort to liberate people of color" and criticizing the release poster as "a not-so-subtle message encouraging audiences to (wrongly) perceive the white guy -- and not a Japanese person -- as the last great leader of the ancient Japanese culture."[31]
In a 2022 interview with The Guardian, Ken Watanabe stated that he didn't think of The Last Samurai as a white savior narrative and that it was a turning point for Asian representation in Hollywood. Watanabe also stated, “Before The Last Samurai, there was this stereotype of Asian people with glasses, bucked teeth and a camera,” [...] It was stupid, but after The Last Samurai came out, Hollywood tried to be more authentic when it came to Asian stories.”[32]
↑ In the film the United States is portrayed as the primary force behind the push for Westernization, despite mostly European powers influencing this historically.
Related Research Articles
Saigō Takamori was a Japanese samurai and nobleman. He was one of the most influential samurai in Japanese history and one of the three great nobles who led the Meiji Restoration. Living during the late Edo and early Meiji periods, he later led the Satsuma Rebellion against the Meiji government. Historian Ivan Morris described him as "the quintessential hero of modern Japanese history".
The Boshin War, sometimes known as the Japanese Revolution or Japanese Civil War, was a civil war in Japan fought from 1868 to 1869 between forces of the ruling Tokugawa shogunate and a coalition seeking to seize political power in the name of the Imperial Court.
The Satsuma Rebellion, also known as the Seinan War, was a revolt of disaffected samurai against the new imperial government of Japan, nine years into the Meiji era. Its name comes from the Satsuma Domain, which had been influential in the Restoration and became home to unemployed samurai after military reforms rendered their status obsolete. The rebellion lasted from 29 January until 24 September of 1877, when it was decisively crushed, and its leader, Saigō Takamori, was shot and mortally wounded.
The Satsuma–Chōshū Alliance, or Satchō Alliance was a powerful military alliance between the southwestern feudal domains of Satsuma and Chōshū formed in 1866 to combine their efforts to restore Imperial rule and overthrow the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan.
The Battle of Shiroyama took place on 24 September 1877, in Kagoshima, Japan. It was the final battle of the Satsuma Rebellion, where the heavily outnumbered samurai under Saigō Takamori made their last stand against Imperial Japanese Army troops under the command of General Yamagata Aritomo and Admiral Kawamura Sumiyoshi. The battle culminated in the annihilation of Saigō and his army, marking the end of the Satsuma Rebellion. The Imperial Army's victory consolidated their power, and the Satsuma Rebellion was the last instance of internal mutiny seen in the Empire of Japan.
Count Kawamura Sumiyoshi, was an admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy. Kawamura's wife Haru was the aunt of Saigō Takamori.
The Satsuma Domain, briefly known as the Kagoshima Domain, was a domain (han) of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan during the Edo period from 1602 to 1871.
Saigō Jūdō was a Japanese politician and admiral in the Meiji period.
The Meiji oligarchy was the new ruling class of Meiji period Japan. In Japanese, the Meiji oligarchy is called the domain clique.
The Battle of Toba–Fushimi occurred between pro-Imperial and Tokugawa shogunate forces during the Boshin War in Japan. The battle started on 27 January 1868, when the forces of the shogunate and the allied forces of Chōshū, Satsuma and Tosa Domains clashed near Fushimi, Kyoto. The battle lasted for four days, ending in a decisive defeat for the shogunate.
The Saga Rebellion was an 1874 uprising in Kyūshū against the new Meiji government of Japan. It was led by Etō Shinpei and Shima Yoshitake in their native domain of Hizen.
The Battle of Ueno was a battle of the Boshin War, which occurred on July 4, 1868, between the troops of the Shōgitai under Shibusawa Seiichirō and Amano Hachirō, and Imperial "Kangun" troops.
The Seikanron was a major political debate in Japan during 1873 regarding a punitive expedition against Korea. The Seikanron split the Meiji government and the restoration coalition that had been established against the bakufu, but resulted in a decision not to send a military expedition to Korea.
Kirino Toshiaki was a Japanese samurai of the late Edo period, and an Imperial Japanese Army general of the early Meiji era.
The Hagi Rebellion was an uprising against the Meiji government of Japan that occurred in Hagi from 28 October 1876 to 5 November 1876.
The Siege of Kumamoto Castle from February 19 to April 12, 1877, in Kumamoto, Japan, was a major battle of the Satsuma Rebellion.
Beppu Shinsuke was a Japanese samurai of the late Edo period who fought for the Satsuma Domain at the Battle of Shiroyama.
Kawaji Toshiyoshi, also known as Kawaji Toshikane, was a Japanese military general, politician, and samurai. during the Meiji period. A Satsuma Domain samurai initially tasked to study foreign systems for application in the Japanese military, Kawaji fought against forces loyal to the Tokugawa shogunate during the Boshin War. Later, his work on setting up the Japanese police at the aftermath of the Meiji Restoration, first as rasotsu, and then as keisatsu, earned him the recognition as the founder of Japan's modern police system. Besides his police and military work, he was also noted for his contributions to the development of Kendo, a Japanese martial art.
The Shizoku was a social class in Japan composed of former samurai after the Meiji Restoration from 1869 to 1947. Shizoku was a distinct class between the kazoku and heimin (commoners) with no special class privileges, and the title was solely on the register. The Shizoku were abolished in the revised civil code in 1947 after the Japanese defeat in World War II.
The Battle of Tabaruzaka was a major battle of the Satsuma Rebellion. It took place in March 1877, on the island of Kyushu, Japan, concurrently to the Siege of Kumamoto Castle.
↑ The Last Samurai: Original Motion Picture Score (CD liner notes). Hans Zimmer. Warner Sunset Records. 2003.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
↑ Ivan Morris (1975), The Nobility of Failure: Tragic Heroes in the History of japanese, chapter 9, Saigō Takamori. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. ISBN978-0030108112.
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