I had the pleasure of viewing Seven Samurai this weekend by the fabled Akira Kurosawa, a director with over 80 writing credits to his name.  Originally released as Shichinin No Samurai,  Seven Samurai is hailed as one of Kurosawa’s best works and when reviewing articles about the movie, it seems to be a consensus that the underlying theme largely has to do with the caste system, as well as duty and honor. To be brief, Seven Samurai follows a downtrodden village being attacked by bandits, which is the norm for the area. After reflecting on what to do, and discussing the success of mercenary Samurai in the past, the village decides to recruit Samurai to defend them. What ensues is a mix of cinematic history, and I am so thrilled to have been able to finally sit down and enjoy this movie after being recommended it so many times.The film was considered largely a success, however it was hard to locate the original box office information for the 1954 release. It appears that the data was not recorded accurately for the original release, however you can see it did okay for its 2002 re-release all things considered. I viewed the initial USA release which was re-titled to Seven Samurai and had a runtime of 158 minutes for American audiences. I implore you to check out the trailer here and attempt to look past the quality and lack of color. I think you will see a small taste of the variety Kurosawa was able to bring to his cinematography.

The film is one of its kind, and can only be compared in my opinion to Kurosawas other works (see filmography). I have viewed a similar style of movie – The 36th Chamber of the Shaolin which I can only compare by stating that yes, it is a kung-fu movie. Kurosawa’s story telling is rivaled by few in my opinion. He  employs some of the major characteristics of a good story by adding drama, humor, action, violence, sadness and mystery to a plot that twists and turns as you go along with it. On the surface, I could see many skimming over this watch,  assuming it would just be another kung-fu movie. I was very pleased to find there is rich character development, especially with the chaotic Kikuchiyo bringing a unique element to the plot. Toshiro Mifune assumes this role, and would go on to work with Kurosawa in nine more films. Below is a short video about his performance in this role :

Seven Samurai would also be influential far past its time, inspiring powerful directors like George Lucas, who speaks about how Kurosawa influenced his career, and the first time he watched Seven Samurai. He mentions it is his favorite Kurosawa film. One thing that interested me about this interview, is that Lucas brings up how Kurosawa’s style was guided by his viewing of silent films as a child. I find it hard to watch black and white films, and could only imagine what it must have been like to be part of the transition from a silent and colorless movie to one with at least audio.

In his essay, Robert Ebert highlights his ideas about the film being largely an expose on the caste system at the time and how rebellion against social norms became enticing to many. I can see how this was addressed in the film. First, you have Kikuchiyo posing as Samurai, with the ability to fight but without the proper training and respect to hold the title. Also, you see the longing by Katusushiro for the farmers daughter, knowing he cannot possibly mix social circles with the villagers. These scenes expose some of the inner turmoil caused by the caste system when its constituents don’t necessarily want to be segregated. Here is a very concise description of the caste system if you are not familiar with it. This has been a system that was much more prominent in feudal Japan, however its existence has affected Japanese society forever-after. The movie was released roughly 10 years after Japans unconditional surrender in WW2, and society is starting to return to its pre-war function. Another notable film that came out in 1954 in Japan was Godzilla, which would go on to be a sensation around the world.

After viewing Seven Samurai I have to agree with Ebert on his analysis of the film as a whole. I believe this film was a way for Kurosawa to display the issues with the previous system, and comment about how they were still prevalent in his society at the time. I thought the entire development of Kikuchiyo was quite amusing and brought a comedic element to the film that would otherwise be lost. I believe this was Kurosawa’s way of showing how the Caste system could be broken down and infiltrated, ultimately showing how it was just a construct of society at the time.

The film feels like as though you are viewing some of the action from the perfect vantage point, or are on horseback high above the battle and watching safely. As Lucas mentions, the visual graphics, framing, and overall quality of the images goes a long way in telling the story while being accurately reflective of the action in the scene. I found the video below of Kurosawa to be quite humbling, as he states he really doesn’t feel that he has truly grasped the essence of cinema as he is receiving an honorary award for lifetime achievement at the Oscars.