A Brief Review: Seven Samurai
A Brief Review: Seven Samurai
Films, like other artistic forms, have been one tempting and increasingly engaging entertainment and spiritual consumption due to its linking association with the social evolution as well as the innovative application of human expressions typical of different ages and places. In the context of various regions, this phenomenon is widely recognized and discussed regarding the display of local colors and people’s living patterns. There is no doubt that Seven Samurai, as one Japanese film directed by one of the most influential director, Akira Kurosawa, in 1954, is one representative work that belongs to this category. By featuring the story of a team composed of seven ronin who protect village peasants and battle against the invasion of bandits, the film suggests one truth: Japanese culture in the first half of last century and citizens’ consciousness have consistently powerful impacts on people’ language, their facial expressions and body movements. By giving a careful look at several typical scenes, this essay establishes that the interplay is not only skillfully used but serves as one defining feature shaping the success of the film.
Samurai-themed movies, which equals western cowboy in the United States, have been causing unbounded enthusiasm for its intriguing introduction of images of Japanese warriors possessing superior abilities and spirits of brave sacrifices in front of dangers and battles. Through Kurosawa’s camera, one scene that could best explain the nature of this fascinating mentality that has witnessed Japan’s struggles in its historical development takes place in the beginning. Kambei, the protagonist, when offered a bowl of rice, impressively expresses his thanks to the poor villager by swearing that the food would not be reduced to waste. Along with the actor’s eloquent speech, the audience is given the opportunity to watch his arm lifting the bowl and pointing it out to the stares of the crowd. The deep-rooted and vigorously developed tradition of regarding samurais as the embodiment of glory, generosity, and selflessness is, hence, in the most efficient way, illustrated by the film’s potent combination of words and body language. In Chinese culture, one group that shares the similarly defined righteousness and be treated with equally high reverence are probably the swordsmen or Xia Ke in Chinese. Both samurais and Chinese heroes seen as legends are famous for their wandering lifestyles as well as bold words typically seen in films.
What indicates a radical distinction in Kurosawa’s portraits of fearless warriors appears in the last scene. Rather than returning all alive and being highly credited, the combating group is severely decreased to three, with four members having lost their lives during brutal confrontations. Kambei’s lament that “the farmers won the war, but we lost”, accompanied by a close-up concentrating on the leader’s sad face, remarkably contributes to forming an end with enduring tragic elements. While the fates of peasants, who are seen tortured by “taxes, forced labor, and bandits (J Sensei 2010),” are possibly forever altered from pains and fears into peace, samurais escaped from deaths may continue their homelessness and unstable incomes. This sharp contrary could be seen as the director’s masterful ability to reflect the civilian wishes of the majority in Japan since the World War II: to leave behind the humiliating past and achieve satisfactions through harvests and simple life. From the speculation of Alain Silver, one skilled cinema worker in the United States, (Alain Silver 1977), this samurai subject in the post-war period primarily depicts heroic figures with psychological or physical injuries. Without any question, the incorporation of braveness, devotion, and joint degeneration, featured by hope and dismay, is rarely seen in the representation of Chinese movies highlighting mighty and mysterious swordsmen and other heroes in the martial arts circles. The distinctively different social experience of survivals and attitudes towards positions in the world, therefore, could be summarized as one reason for causing the diverse directions of film plots.
Scenes unveiling the romantic meetings between a local woman and the inexperienced young samurai is one great allusion to the complex love relation in lower classes of Japan. Through a wealth of depicting methods, a substantial part of which exhibit the verbal reactions and subtle changes of face expressions, the awakened attraction to the opposite sex is presented in a rather restrained manner. Through a series of the orderly and clever arrangement of characters’ behaviors, like quiet peeks, averted eyes, shy smiles, conservative personalities, and obedience to hierarchies commonly observed in Japanese rural areas are significantly revealed. To a large extent, the cause of holdback of desires is the agricultural tradition handed down to different generations. Through years of farming and honest labors, local peasants in the countryside are accustomed to following rules and avoiding prejudices from peers. Therefore, the ignition of affections is portrayed together with conceals and even fears, serving as one complaint of people’s inability of breaking the classical inequality and discriminations. In Chinese history, the arranged marriages, which could be traced down to the far ancient slavery age and seen in Qing Dynasty, is one similar social phenomenon as what is represented in the film. This rampantly stubborn social norm down in nearly all dynasties is characterized by excessive interventions from parents, deprivation of free choices, as well as undutiful senses put on violations. Today, the compulsion in marrying spouses is still widely described in Chinese cinemas, which could also be deemed as ridicules of conservatisms and rotten systems.
As the efficient vehicle, Seven Samurai’s rich application of language is another significant advantage that emphasizes the close interaction between Japan’s cultural orientation, thinking mechanism, and the public’s communicative habits. One example is the adoption of elliptical sentences that could be easily identified in conversations between Kambei and other samurais except the untested Kimura. In several occasions, their deliberate use of short phrases, through leaving out the subjects, are presented to underscore the tacit understandings beyond the lines. This implicit manner, widely noted as communications of meanings and emotions from mind to mind, is related to the fact of a single ethnic island country. Japan’s relatively isolated condition of geography, combined with its fairly unified culture and political policies, leads to intimate interpersonal connections and convenient mutual understandings. One contrast is thus generated between Japan’s concise language and the frequent linguistic conflicts in China. The vast territory made up of many ethnic regions creates a national situation where a rich variety of dialects is functioned in different areas, significantly promoting full-scale and detailed explanations and decreasing the use of unfinished speeches.
Highly acclaimed as the father of Japanese films, Akira Kurosawa genuinely unfolds in Seven Samurai the gruelingly painful struggles of two groups: the samurais and local farmers. By flexibly applying the linguistic appeals and visual tools, the film efficiently broadens viewers’ visions and achieves to inform the world, eastern and western, of the dominating Japanese social mood since wartime as well as its cultural environment. A large part of scenes, due to the masterful designation, are worthy of critical study and thorough considerations regarding the integration of film languages and Japanese social climate and events.