Movies The Last Samurai

Discussion in 'Movies and Television' started by seraphinx, Dec 6, 2003.

  1. seraphinx

    seraphinx Oy, Artista!

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    Did anyone see The Last Samurai (starring Tom Cruise). It was pretty well done, had lots of hyping fight scenes as well as critical, dramatic scenes. My friends pointed out some inconsistencies between the movie and real Japanese history, which we felt were for the sake of the movie. But overall it was a pretty good movie worth checking out. The best thing I liked about the movie is how you might feel the same way as the main character did, gaining insight and eventually respect for the samurai class.
     
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  2. conman

    conman New Member

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    last samurai

    I have seen it and it's a really good dramatic movie. Usually, I don't like drama but this movie describes Japanese culture and makes me really respect their culture.

    What is in the real history that is different than the movie?
     
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  3. Raven

    Raven Fuhrer

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    I really liked it. The problem though was that the Samurai's would have probably killed him if that had actually happened. My favorite fight was the one *SPOILERS* was the between the samurai and the ninjas. It was uber cool.
     
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  4. zero35

    zero35 New Member

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    no i havnt seen it, i hecsta want to , i love japan and samurais although im
    not from japan. i just find it fascinating :anime:
     
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  5. seraphinx

    seraphinx Oy, Artista!

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    There are a bunch, but I only know a few...


    SPOIILERS...Well for one thing, ninjas didn't exist in that era of history. That's what my friend told me, and he's taken a lot of Japanese courses in college. Another thing is, the characters were supposed to speak in an earlier form of Japanese language, but didn't. (My same friend said that if you watch Rurouni Kenshin subtitled, those characters use the authentic style of old Japanese speech.)

    And so I figured that the ninja vs samurai scene was just for looks. Besides, the story didn't even explain who the ninjas were or why they attacked. As for the modernized Japanese language, I guess that was for simplicity sake.
     
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  6. Hitokiri_Gensai

    Hitokiri_Gensai Gunslinger Girl

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    Even if the ninja were to exist wearing all black would be a dead giveaway...so...also there always talking about "ninja swords"...no if the katana is one of the best swords ever created by man and the fact that it has a curve and that is half the strength of the swords...why in all heck would you adopt a straight blade????....anyway that was babbling...anyway for the sake of keeping it rather simpleis the reason that they spoke modern japanese....funny thing is that ive watched Rurouni Kenshin as well as read the manga so my teacher keeps yelling at me cause i speak older japanese...it confuses a lot of people...im also very curious to how well the code of bushido was kept up...i have studied the samurai extensivly as well as the swords and swords styles...i have chosen to live my life according to the rules of the code of bushido (to and extent) so im rather interested to see how well they keep these rules...
     
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  7. chiquitabanana

    chiquitabanana finally legal

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    I am thinking of seeing it... specially couse hes extremely gorgeous. It looked good from the commercials. I also thought the ets looked really pretty.
     
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  8. jindo

    jindo New Member

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    Still haven't seen it.... :sad:
     
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  9. KaMeKaZi

    KaMeKaZi Insanity$%#

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    Ive not seen the movie yet.. But the month of november or december in National Geographic has some Very interesting Articles about the Rise and Fall of the Samurai culture that One should take the time to read.

    KaMe
     
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  10. Hitokiri_Gensai

    Hitokiri_Gensai Gunslinger Girl

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    hmmm...what stance did the writer have on the samurai culture? just out of curiosity...
     
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  11. KaMeKaZi

    KaMeKaZi Insanity$%#

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    Well I dont think He had one.. Just a General overview of the culture and where it is today.

    KaME
     
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  12. Hikaru

    Hikaru New Member

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    i wanna see tom cruise!!

    LOL, actually, i think that it's cool that they're making a movie of japan in its ancient times, because not a lot of people in america know about japan and its past (except maybe M2A-ers and japanese). the movie would be worth seeing. even my AP history teacher says we should watch it. :sweat2:
     
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  13. Hitokiri_Gensai

    Hitokiri_Gensai Gunslinger Girl

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    well i wouldnt call it ancient times....its just about...125 years ago...anicent is the Heian Era...or the Edo period...or the nara period...which are really interesting as well....
     
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  14. Hikaru

    Hikaru New Member

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    haha, your right! i should be ashamed!! i'm studying this!! :blush2: but there were samurai even around the Nara, but i believe the Last Samurai was taking place during the later periods when the samurai were losing their power (hence the LAST Samurai).
     
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  15. Nephilim_X

    Nephilim_X New Member

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    Just saw it today, and was quite surprised at how well done it was. The Ninja sequence alone was worth the price of admission, and I was very happy to see a classy love story!
     
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  16. Hitokiri_Gensai

    Hitokiri_Gensai Gunslinger Girl

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    well yes there were samurai during the Nara period although the samurai code of honor wasnt really im place...and there were huge differences in armor, speech, and weaponry...in 694 AD the sword was brought to japan from the mainland, being China and Korea. also back then armor was all made of wood and straw, and cloth. speech was a majorly different that as well although i dont know much about ancient japanese...

    anyway the last samurai took place in the 1877 if i remember correctly...the Meiji period had just begun following the Bakumatsu. 1877, January 1st, a ban was put on the wearing of swords, restricting it strictly to the military and the kenkakukeikantai. many dissident samurai rebelled against this new law by hiding there swords in staffs and walking sticks. because of the samurai code of honor called Bushido, the sword was a very important item to the samurai. it was there life, and there honor. To a samurai, his sword was his honor...it wasnt kept in his heart or head like many ideals today but it was kept in his sword and his ability to use it. one had to defend his honor in every battle fought. for on samurai to kill another meant that there was some reason for the battle to take place therefore, someones honor had been hurt and it was a battle to keep there honor or defend it. if a samurai were to lose and not die. he usually commited seppuku because in a honorable death one would retain his honor. his sword also represented his life. "To live by the sword, is to die by the sword". A samurai was always in the service to his lord. that being, the local Daimyo or even the Shogun himself. above all else was to protect his lord. so there for his life was dedicated to protecting his lord and his honor and nothing else mattered, or atleast until those things were done nothing mattered. also to be a samurai one had to be born of samurai blood or adopted into a samurai family. so the ability to carry two swords and keep their hair "chonmage", was a status symbol. so, by losing these signs they became nothing to the new government...and to a culture that relyied so heavily on honor to suddenly cast families that had existed for hundreds of years, born of noble blood, to suddenly be nothing more than a face in the crowd was a blow to there families name and their honor. so thats what the premise of "The Last Samurai" comes from....

    one interesting group from the bakumatsu that were fighting the demise of the samurai were the bakufu fighting group the Shinsengumi. The leader who had orignally started it was not a very good man. http://www.mangatoanime.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=9815 is a thread i wrote about him his name was "Serizawa Kamo" anyway...after he was ousted from power in the Shinsengumi. the new leader and vice leaders being Kondo Isami and Hijikata Toshizo, took over and one of the rules of the Shinsengumi was do nothing that will taint the way of the samurai and Hijikata maintained this rule with an iron fist....
     
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  17. UFOtaku

    UFOtaku Wachu loorkin at?!

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    When the ad came out, all my friends an me laughed. We were like, "Oh, yeah, the last samurai in JAPAN just happens to be a white guy...." ^_^
    But after seeing it... wow.

    If you ask me, the older Japanese (like in RK), is easier than the modern. But I think that the modern is just better known, which is why they use it. Modern confoozez meh...
     
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  18. seraphinx

    seraphinx Oy, Artista!

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    Yeah, when I first saw the preview for it a while ago, I thought it was strange for having a white guy in there. But later on I figured, since "Samurai" can be thought of in plural form, the "last samurai" may have referred to all of the samurai in the movie.
     
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  19. Hitokiri_Gensai

    Hitokiri_Gensai Gunslinger Girl

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    well im assuming thats what its referring to as, an american cannot come to japan like that and even tho he learned the ways of the samurai cannot become one of the warrior class....
     
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  20. Sesshomisao

    Sesshomisao Poison Girl

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    OMFG!!!! It was a great movie!!!! It was great...I think in my opinion that it showed a great rendition on the Samurai era...lol...any way...if you havnt seen it, I compleatly recomend it!!! GO SEE THIS MOVIE!!! ^__^

    Misao
     
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