Akira Kurosawa's jidai-geki epic 'Seven Samurai' can be counted among the greatest of all battle movies - a majestic tale of heroism, sacrifice and death, that remains unmatched, even today. Set in 1587, it follows the story of a village of farmers that hire seven master-less samurai to combat bandits who will return after the harvest to steal their crops. The displaced samurai - seven sword-swinging, bow-and-arrow footmen of varied courage and personality - put aside class differences in order to defend the village that has been the unfortunate target of the gang of marauding bandits for a long time.
The first half where the lead samurai gathers his troops and journeys to the village, is fascinating, full of vigor and life. But the second half - where the samurai train the peasant villagers to fight and then take on the bandit horde, resisting wave after wave of horseback assaults with sword and rifle in the driving rain, the bandits battering against the improvised fortifications, trading deaths until the last rifle shot and sword-slash - is one of the most thrilling sustained passages of action cinema ever.
On that simple framework and familiar storyline, director Akira Kurosawa plasters a wealth of rich detail, which brilliantly illuminates his characters and the kind of action in which they are involved. We feel the warfare so intensely because of his mastery of staging and editing the violence. But we also feel the film because the characters are so strong, especially the seven samurai themselves: heroes in the truest sense, but also convincingly idiosyncratic and human. The film's three and a half hour length is more than justified by the intricate character development of both the samurai and the villagers, as both groups let go of class biases to accomplish their mutual goal of fortifying the village. The legendary Takashi Shimura as the ageing, and oddly charismatic leader and Toshirô Mifune as the arrogant ronin looking to outdo his compatriots lead a superb cast, and Kurosawa's kinetic camera keeps the adventure sizzling with energy and wit from start to finish. By the climactic showdowns against the bandits, a palpable anxiety is present due to the great affinity the audience feels for the characters.
Rich in detail, vivid in characterization and leisurely in exposition, Seven Samurai is bravura filmmaking. Akira Kurosawa synthesizes the traditions of the samurai narrative and the American western to create an intimate epic with deeply felt ground-level consequences. While doing so, he deflates the myth of the noble samurai without actually debunking it and sends a dark thrill through his audience with a touch of sensuous physical reality.
The first half where the lead samurai gathers his troops and journeys to the village, is fascinating, full of vigor and life. But the second half - where the samurai train the peasant villagers to fight and then take on the bandit horde, resisting wave after wave of horseback assaults with sword and rifle in the driving rain, the bandits battering against the improvised fortifications, trading deaths until the last rifle shot and sword-slash - is one of the most thrilling sustained passages of action cinema ever.
On that simple framework and familiar storyline, director Akira Kurosawa plasters a wealth of rich detail, which brilliantly illuminates his characters and the kind of action in which they are involved. We feel the warfare so intensely because of his mastery of staging and editing the violence. But we also feel the film because the characters are so strong, especially the seven samurai themselves: heroes in the truest sense, but also convincingly idiosyncratic and human. The film's three and a half hour length is more than justified by the intricate character development of both the samurai and the villagers, as both groups let go of class biases to accomplish their mutual goal of fortifying the village. The legendary Takashi Shimura as the ageing, and oddly charismatic leader and Toshirô Mifune as the arrogant ronin looking to outdo his compatriots lead a superb cast, and Kurosawa's kinetic camera keeps the adventure sizzling with energy and wit from start to finish. By the climactic showdowns against the bandits, a palpable anxiety is present due to the great affinity the audience feels for the characters.
Rich in detail, vivid in characterization and leisurely in exposition, Seven Samurai is bravura filmmaking. Akira Kurosawa synthesizes the traditions of the samurai narrative and the American western to create an intimate epic with deeply felt ground-level consequences. While doing so, he deflates the myth of the noble samurai without actually debunking it and sends a dark thrill through his audience with a touch of sensuous physical reality.