The action drama film

The action drama film

The action drama film the last samurai is inspired by actual events, the Satsuma rebellion in 1877 led by Saigo Takamori and the westernization of Japan by foreign powers. However, according to the last samurai, the United States is the country behind the westernization. The film is also influenced by the story of Jules Brunet, which is played by Captain Nathan Algren, a French captain who fights alongside the Tokugawa samurai in their resistance against Emperor Meiji and his move to modernize Japan.

Set in Japan in the 1870s, the film narrates the story of Captain Nathan Algren, which is portrayed by Tom Cruise, a respected American officer who is hired by the japan emperor to train the country’s first war with modern weapons. Our first encounter with Captain Nathan he is a kind of cliché character; a drunkard and a self-pitying former soldier. The films show flashbacks to the events which led to Captain Nathan’s change. It was during an Indian massacre that involved women and children. The drunk Captain is rescued by his former colleague Zebulon Gant and his former commander Col Bagley from his self-distractive situation.  Both of them convince him to take up the mission in Japan.

On arriving in Japan, the film portrays Nathan as someone who still has contempt against himself. However, he works under a tight timetable to train the army in modern weapons before challenging a band of samurai led by katsumoto. The battle ends with Nathan being captured though he is not killed even though he had killed the brother in law during the battle. Katsumoto takes Nathan with him to his village.

The second part of the film isolates Nathan in a rural setting over the fall and the winter seasons. During this period, he learns the samurai culture and their fighting techniques. Katsumoto and Nathan engage in conversations, and they explore the areas they have differences and those that they agree. By the end of the winter season, Nathan becomes a samurai who has ingratiated himself by saving his host family from a ninja attack.

In the third section of the film, Nathan accompanies katsumoto to Tokyo for a political showdown with the emperor Amura. However, Katsumoto is arrested and given then a choice of honours to take his life instead. Nathan and the rest of the samurai men rescue katsumoto and flee Tokyo. In the final section of the film, there is a battle where Zwick, the screenwriter, portrays the passing of the samurai era. This is represented when he shows a large modern army against the samurai in combat, Nathan and katsumoto neutralize the big guns and reduce things to hand to hand where the samurai might prevail.

Algren is influenced and inspired by the samurai’s way of life, culture and fighting techniques. This influence causes him to be in a dilemma when they are tackled with the emperor Amura who attempts to eradicate the ancient imperial samurai warriors. Algren finds him between two eras and worlds. He left in a position where he must choose to honour his loyalty to one of the sides when getting back on the battlefield. Both Nathan and katsumoto, played by Tom Cruise and Ken Watanabe, respectively, underplay their roles. The transformation of cruise to a samurai is convincing to the audience where the character makes us understand it is the only way he can go back to what he was like before. Watanabe’s character where he is confused with the techniques of the modern world and at the same time, he is determined to stay true to his traditional ways at whatever costs, even if it will take his own life.

Throughout the movies, Captain Nathan is seen transforming from his self-contempt ways. While in Japan, captain Nathan can overcome his alcoholism and self-pity, which were always part of him. Also, Nathan can learn the Japanese language and their culture, which helps him become friends with katsumoto. With his previous military skills, he can save katsumoto’s life and also the whole village from an attack; it is here where he is made a samurai. Among his achievements, Captain Nathan Algren, together with other samurai rescue katsumoto from the emperor while they were in Tokyo. Although Nathan was never able to convince katsumoto to modernize his tropes, he convinced him to fight till the end with the imperial army who used modern weapons.

Shot in New Zealand, the film portrays the period’s costumes and weapons so convincing in that it as audience people get to experience the 1800s. The historical depiction of the film shows Hollywood’s perfection at its best. The drills in the movies and the battles maintain the expressiveness, which usually equated with a japan samurai film.  The film relied entirely on a grounded screenplay principled with intriguing supporting characters and a climactic character where bows and arrows are up against the rifles. The cinematography seals it by adding lustre to the epic nature of the movie. The last samurai film successfully merged the western and the samurai movie together which pull off a spectacular entertainment which attracts people from all over the world. Zwick, the screenwriter, exploits the power at his disposal by pairing a Hollywood star cruise with a Japanese star Ken Watanabe, two warriors who started off as enemies but eventually became allies and friends.