Seven Samurai (Japanese: 七人の侍, Hepburn: Shichinin no Samurai) is a 1954 Japanese epic samurai film co-written, edited, and directed by Akira Kurosawa. Taking place in 1586[a] in the Sengoku period of Japanese history, it follows the story of a village of desperate farmers who seek to hire rōnin (masterless samurai) to combat bandits who will return after the harvest to steal their crops.
In 1586, a bandit gang discusses raiding a mountain village, but their chief decides to wait until after the harvest for a better haul. The villagers overhear this and turn to Gisaku, the village elder and miller. Gisaku plans to hire samurai to protect the village. Since they have no money and can only offer food as payment, Gisaku advises the villagers to find hungry samurai.
Traveling to a nearby town, the villagers find Kambei, an aging but experienced rōnin, whom they see rescuing a young boy from a thief. A young samurai named Katsushirō asks to become Kambei's disciple. The villagers ask for Kambei's help, and he reluctantly agrees. He then recruits his old comrade-in-arms Shichirōji, along with Gorobei, Heihachi, and Kyūzō, a taciturn master swordsman whom Katsushirō regards with awe. Kikuchiyo, a wild and eccentric samurai-poser, is eventually accepted as well after attempts to drive him away fail.
Arriving at the village, the samurai and farmers slowly begin to trust each other. Katsushirō meets Shino, a farmer's daughter disguised as a boy by her father, and sleeps with her despite knowing the difference in their social classes prohibits it. Later, the samurai are angered when Kikuchiyo brings them armor and weapons, which the villagers acquired by killing other samurai injured or fleeing from battle. Kikuchiyo angrily retorts that samurai are responsible for much of the suffering farmers endure, revealing he is an orphaned farmer's son. The samurai's anger turns to shame.
Kambei arms the villagers with bamboo spears and organizes them into squads and trains them. Three bandit scouts are spotted; two are killed, while the last reveals their camp's location to save himself. The samurai burn down the camp in a pre-emptive strike. Rikichi, a troubled villager aiding the samurai, breaks down when he sees his wife, who was kidnapped and made a concubine during a previous raid. Upon seeing Rikichi, she runs back into a burning hut to her death. Heihachi is killed by a gunshot while trying to stop Rikichi from pursuing her. At Heihachi's funeral, the saddened villagers are inspired by Kikuchiyo, who raises a banner Heihachi made to represent the six samurai, Kikuchiyo, and the village.
Afterward, Kambei, Katsushirō and Shichirōji stand in front of the funeral mounds of their comrades, watching the joyful villagers sing while planting their crops. Katsushirō and Shino meet one last time, but Shino walks past him after a moment to join in the planting indicating that their relationship has ended. Kambei says to Shichirōji that it is another pyrrhic victory for the samurai: "The victory belongs to those peasants. Not to us."
Kurosawa and the writers were innovative in refining the theme of the assembly of heroic characters to perform a mission. According to Michael Jeck's DVD commentary, Seven Samurai was among the first films to use the now-common plot element of the recruiting and gathering of heroes into a team to accomplish a specific goal, a device used in later films such as The Guns of Navarone, Sholay, the western remake The Magnificent Seven, and Pixar's animated film A Bug's Life.[15] Film critic Roger Ebert speculates in his review that the sequence introducing the leader Kambei (in which the samurai shaves off his topknot, a sign of honor among samurai, in order to pose as a monk to rescue a boy from a kidnapper) could be the origin of the practice, now common in action movies, of introducing the main hero with an undertaking unrelated to the main plot.[16]
47 Ronin is a 2013 American historical fantasy action film directed by Carl Rinsch in his directorial debut. Written by Chris Morgan and Hossein Amini from a story conceived by Morgan and Walter Hamada, the film is a work of Chūshingura ("The Treasury of Loyal Retainers"); a fictionalized account of the forty-seven rōnin, a real-life group of masterless samurai under daimyō Asano Naganori in 18th-century Japan who avenged Naganori's death by battling his rival Kira Yoshinaka. Starring Keanu Reeves, Hiroyuki Sanada, Tadanobu Asano, Rinko Kikuchi and Ko Shibasaki, the film bears little resemblance to its historical basis compared to previous adaptations, and instead serves as a stylized interpretation set "in a world of witches and giants."[4]
James Lynch is a Features Writer who has spent the last three years editing and writing for the website he started back in 2018. When he's not deeply embroiled in an epic PC strategy, he can usually be found supporting his beloved Brentford FC. Catch him on his newly active Twitter @jamesjlynch
As an evil force threatens the kingdom of Kumandra, it is up to warrior Raya to leave her Heart Lands home and track down the legendary last dragon to help stop the villainous Druun. 2020 Disney. All Rights Reserved.
As an evil force threatens the kingdom of Kumandra, it is up to warrior Raya, and her trusty steed Tuk Tuk, to leave their Heart Lands home and track down the last dragon to help stop the villainous Druun. 2020 Disney. All Rights Reserved.
Raya and her best friend, Tuk Tuk, have always teamed up for adventure. When they are grown and their world is threatened, they journey together through the Lands of Kumandra to find the legendary last dragon and save the kingdom. 2020 Disney. All Rights Reserved.
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