The Last Samurai

[pdiggitydogg]

Has anyone seen this movie?
Is it good?

Im just watching some samurai special on the history channel (ironically good for studying for my japanese class) and got to wondering about the movie...

[SeoulJaGirl]

i liked it. :yes: at first i didn't want to see it, i just thought "pft, tom cruise" but it was actually pretty good. too bad the theater i was at had the most uncomfortable seats in the world...

[Anotherslo1]

I havn't seen it either. But the previews did look good. How long was the movie Seoul?

[CD5Passion]

I saw it and I left with 10x more japanese pride then ever. I even teared...;(

the movie cannot be described as anything other than "wow" as it goes in depth about the ways of the samurai and what they beleived in, not to mention how they were irradicated by the rise of government which they had once protected.

talk about a stab in the back:mad:

[pdiggitydogg]

But the only people that were really hurt by the rise of the meiji govt were the samurai and the diamyo. They were offered "early retirement" benefits and some were even offered govt jobs.

250yrs of peace and samurai training during the tokugawa period werent enough to stand up to technology...thats why when the samurai first rebelled against the british and french they got obliterated...it was smart for them to say "we'll be your best friends if you teach us how you did that" instead of saying "lets get em" No amount of training or rallying (like when the mongols invaded for the second time.....dispite the battle ending with their ships sinking from a storm) would change the fact that they needed to adapt to a changed world. Them being locked away for so many years was crippling to them...at least they saw what happened to china (opiate wars) and were smart enough to do so.

Personally, I give it up to the meiji restoration...if they hadnt changed their ways they may...no WOULD have ended up like tiawan or vietnam...certainly not the international power that they are today

Feudalism just doesnt work...today
look at it this way:
samurai were like the confederates in a way - way of the old, refusing to change

[spoogenet]

If the US hadn't offered reconstruction after WWII then Japan probably wouldn't have become the international power it is today.

The movie is dealing with the abandonment of the past for the adoption of a new way of life. Japan has been losing more and more of its culture as it has westernized and in ways just Americanized.

Personally I find it a very sad thing. I live in a country with only a vaguely defined culture with no real long standing traditions and a country history that dates back only a fraction of what other countries have, such as Japan. But what happens isn't my choice, I just am disappointed with the "westernization" of many countries as they abandon their heritage and culture.

I thought the move was pretty good, but I agree with some critics in that it could have been more powerful had it ended a little differently. Overall still a "worth see" in my book, especially for those fascinated with Japanese culture and/or that of the Samurai. The acting is top-notch and the movie can really touch you.

Kudos to Tom for not butchering the language. :)

b

[ChrisCantSkate]

i herd it was amazing.... i just never goto the movies anymore

[SeoulJaGirl]

it was a little over 2 hours, the numbness factor of my bum says probably almost 2 and a half or more

[pdiggitydogg]

Eh, japan has ALWAYS taken parts of things from other cultures and added it to their own...america is just the newest part of it.

Over the long run, japan took from china much more and for much longer a period of time.

and yeah, I saw tom really butchering the language just on the history channel specual - "EEDO"

[vtracer20]

dude i thought this movie was amazing...the preview make the movie looks really shitty, but i was soo amazed by the move....it really makes u think and admire the shameri......deff TWO THUMBS UP!!!

[homie462]

:no: i'm just curious, why didn't they star an actual japanese character as the last samurai? just doesn't make sense, they had an american play an important piece of history about the japanese samurai? same with fast and the furious, story was based on ASIAN import cars, but no main asian actors. i guess we're that bad on the market.

[pdiggitydogg]

he isnt the last samurai

[mylittlecivic]

i'm too lazy to go see it.

[ChrisCantSkate]

Originally posted by homie462
:no: i'm just curious, why didn't they star an actual japanese character as the last samurai? just doesn't make sense, they had an american play an important piece of history about the japanese samurai? same with fast and the furious, story was based on ASIAN import cars, but no main asian actors. i guess we're that bad on the market.

just wondering did you actually see the movie or know anything about the plot? cause there were only 4 white people in the movie i think. the rest were japanise, and there was a main japanise actor



i went and saw it last night, and it was amazing

[spoogenet]

It's 2.5 hours.

Yeah seriously, if you think they didn't star a Japanese actor you're blind or haven't seen it. :) Well, it's more like co-starred, there is no one star of the movie. The point of Tom being there is the simple fact that the story is about the clash of western culture with Japan....the best way to do that is with a western character.

Tom didn't really butcher the language. He did as well as you can expect a non-native speaker to do, or at least one from an English background. Kudos to his language trainer. ;)

b

[pdiggitydogg]

psh...stereo-type...

Ive been told by all my japanese friends I sound just like a native japanese speaker
But then again, Im a badass ;)

[spoogenet]

Sure with enough language training and practice a non-native speaker can sound like a native speaker.....but that's not easy and is usually the exception to the rule.

I'm assuming from your statements that you have a number of Japanese friends with whom you can speak the language and get a better feel for how to speak like a native speaker. Not everybody gets such luxuries while learning a language.

Except for those who start at a young age (below the critical age, for the linguists here) it's unlikely a non-native speaker will truly sound like a native speaker. Even the best will most likely slip up at least once. ;)

b