Seven Samurai

Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai (1954) is an icon of Japanese and World cinema. It is the original action movie and Hollywood owes it a great debt. Quite apart from the obvious remakes, such as The Magnificent Seven, many action movie elements originated in Seven Samurai, from techniques such as dropping to slow motion in climatic battle scenes, to typical plot lines involving a band of disparate characters coming together to defeat seemingly overwhelming odds. Its essential viewing for film studies, but it also no hardship, as despite its epic 3 hours and limited dialogue, it tells a compelling story and tells it well. It is full of memorable images, notably the shots of Kikuchiyo, the suspect Samurai, who turns out to be a farmer’s son, in his stolen armour and headgear, brandishing his extra-long sword. The relationship between the Samurai and the farmers is one of the most interesting aspects and reflects the relationship that often exists between a civilian population and an external force of armed defenders. Currently we need look no further than how Iraqi civilians stand towards the coalition forces. They need them there, but at the same time they desperately want them gone.