This film was made in Japan during World War II and was a form of propaganda meant to showcase loyalty, courage and the martial spirit of the Japanese people.\u00a0 It is a true story that occurred in the early 1700\u2019s during the shogunate of Tokugawa Tsunayoshi.\u00a0 It was a time when a formerly prosperous people were slipping into poverty through governmental mismanagement.\u00a0 And cultural and social norms were unravelling.\u00a0 The samurai class was finding itself relegated to a diminished role in the feudal system of the Edo period.\u00a0 But the samurai code still tied them to their patron, the daimyo or lord.<\/p>\n
Plot<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n This story is about a case of revenge.\u00a0 Lord Asano was a daimyo who was insulted by one of the shogun\u2019s officials named Lord Kira.\u00a0 Flying into a rage Asano attacked Kira with a knife inside the shogun\u2019s residence which was a capitol offense.\u00a0 The shogun decreed that Asano would have to commit seppuku (ritual suicide) and his lands would be confiscated.\u00a0 No penalty was decreed against Kira for his insults.<\/p>\n The leader of Lord Asano\u2019s samurai, \u014cishi Yoshio, decided that he would organize all the willing samurai under him to revenge their lord against Kira.\u00a0 He recruited forty-six other samurai including his own fifteen-year-old son and then waited for over a year until Lord Kira\u2019s suspicions were allayed.\u00a0 To this end \u014cishi patronized brothels and became a disgrace, exhibiting public drunkenness until Kira\u2019s spies became convinced that he was a dissolute man.\u00a0 \u014cishi even divorced his wife.\u00a0 But it is thought he did this to protect his wife and remaining children from retribution by the authorities.<\/p>\n Then when all was prepared \u014cishi led his men against Kira\u2019s castle and using swords and bows they stormed both gates of the castle and killed Kira\u2019s men and rushed his private rooms.\u00a0 Only his wife and children were found.\u00a0 But when they checked Kira\u2019s bed, they found it was still warm.\u00a0 So, they ransacked his rooms until they found the entrance to a hidden courtyard where Kira and a few guards were hidden.\u00a0 They overpowered the guards.\u00a0 Then \u014cishi respectfully offered Kira the chance to commit seppuku but the man was too terrified even to answer.\u00a0 Kira\u2019s head was cut off and ceremoniously washed and prepared and taken to Lord Asano\u2019s grave where it was bestowed with the appropriate prayers.\u00a0 Afterward \u014cishi and his men gave themselves up to the shogun\u2019s authorities.\u00a0 Although the shogun had forbidden revenge against Kira, he decided that because the revenge was so popular among the populace, the ronin would not be treated as criminals but instead allowed to commit seppuku.\u00a0 And so, about a year after the attack the ronin each committed ritual suicide and were given honored burial next to the grave of Lord Asano.<\/p>\n Discussion<\/u><\/p>\n This is a very strange movie for Americans to sit through.\u00a0 First off, it\u2019s almost four hours long.\u00a0 Four hours of subtitles is hard to endure no matter how good the movie is.\u00a0 Secondly, the oddness of the action and manners of both the era being portrayed and Japanese cinema in general presents a considerable barrier to an American audience immersing itself in the story.\u00a0 And thirdly, the majority of the movie is static and is portrayed by conversations between the characters.\u00a0 Even the storming of the castle occurs off screen and is read to the audience by one of the characters, Lord Asano\u2019s widow.<\/p>\n I found the three problems I mention above, as too extreme to allow the movie to be thought of as entertainment.\u00a0 It\u2019s more of an historical experience.\u00a0 I would not recommend this to anyone who isn\u2019t interested in Japanese history and culture for their own sake.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This film was made in Japan during World War II and was a form of propaganda meant to showcase loyalty, courage and the martial spirit<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[239,237],"tags":[3533,2532,43,38,1355,3535,3534],"class_list":["post-17494","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-movie-reviews","category-reviews","tag-japan","tag-japanese-cinema","tag-movie-review","tag-review","tag-reviews","tag-ronin","tag-samurai"],"yoast_head":"\n