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8 December, 2003
Samurai Lessons
Some Japanese Americans I know have had trepidations about seeing "The Last Samurai," the Hollywood blockbuster starring Tom Cruise that's set in late-18th century Meiji-era Japan, during the sunset of the samurai society.
 Tom Cruise fighting off assassins in "The Last Samurai." |
They've been bashing the movie and trotted out the usual suspects without even seeing the film: Insensitive portrayal of Japan and Japanese; clichéd story about an outsider becoming fascinated by and assimilating into Japanese culture; hackneyed romance between white barbarian and pure, angelic Japanese woman; stereotypical blather about honor, duty, spirituality and other values white people have attributed for centuries to Japanese.
Oh, please.
Give it a rest this time. We saw the film, and it was a well-made, (mostly) believable story that was powerful and quite moving at times.
Sure, there were some stereotypes. The samurai are noble but brutal, wise but devious; the Europeans are smelly and uncouth; Japanese are generally ugly (except for the "tribal chief" samurai and the mysteriously sad leading lady) and uncivilized. Yes, the story's been told before (see below).
And yes, I thought it a little troubling that the two main Japanese characters, the samurai lord Katsumoto and the woman Taka (played respectively by Ken Watanabe and Koyuki, both popular actors in Japan), are portrayed by Japanese who seemed to be cast because they look non-specific -- Watanabe's strong good looks echo The Rock as much as Toshiro Mifune, and Koyuki's pearly beauty is anchored with a practically Roman nose.
We've come to expect the stereotypes, though that doesn't make them acceptable. Unfortunately, stereotypes often are rooted in reality, and the image of the samurai - a refined version of the "Noble Savage" that's been a condescending staple of Western literature for centuries - is based on history.
That's why they're so appealing as characters, even in Japan today, where "chambara," or samurai stories are still popular in TV dramas, and in Japanese films.
I'm tired of these images, and think they're clichés. I wish that American popular culture could get past its infatuation for samurai and geisha, and that more Americans could appreciate contemporary Japan, not just tea ceremonies, flower arranging and kimonos.
On the other hand, any well-done book or movie about Japan has the benefit of introducing Westerners to Japanese culture, and therefore, Japanese people.
 Cruise with co-star Koyuki: Don't worry, there's no gratuitous sex between the White Guy and the Asian Chick. Photo by David Jamés, courtesy of Warner Brpos. Ent. |
I have to say, I enjoyed "The Last Samurai" and I'm willing to sort through some of the iffier aspects because of the overall level of respect I think the film has to not only Japanese culture, but to the traditions of chambara films and the master of all filmmakers in the samurai genre, Akira Kurosawa.
The story begins with Tom Cruise's character, Nathan Algren, who is a troubled former Civil War hero and disenchanted veteran of General George Custer's 7th Cavalry.
He accepts an offer to go to Japan and train Japanese soldiers in Western battle, using the Western weapons that the Emperor Meiji (who took the throne when he was just 14, in 1869) has begun to import. But while training the soldiers, he's asked to lead the recruits in a battle against a rebelling samurai lord, Katsumoto, who is fighting the old-fashioned way with swords and arrows. (This rebellion is loosely based on a true incident, when Saigo Takamori of the Satsuma clan in Kyushu organized samurai who were disenchanted with the modernizing of the country, and wanted to strike down the oligarchy of men who were controlling Meiji at the time.)
During the fighting, Algren is taken prisoner by Katsumoto to a mountain village for the winter months, where he finds himself accepting the "spirituality" of the Japanese and learns samurai skill and the Japanese language with such ease that it'll leave anyone who's tried to learn Japanese scratching her head in wonder.
He's placed by Katsumoto in the home of Taka, a willowy woman with two sons who Algren learns is the widow of a man he killed in battle. The scene when Algren apologizes to Taka for killing her husband is one of several moving passages of the film.
For those who are criticizing the clichéd foreigner/Japanese woman romance before seeing the film, relax. The two don't have sex, although by the end of the film they are quite attracted to each other. In fact they only briefly kiss, a tantalizing expression of their feelings for each other that seems perfectly natural.
Sure, it's all been done before. "Shogun," the 1975 book and 1980 TV mini-series, told a remarkably similar story in many ways. It was a mainstream smash, eclipsing all other programming by the time the series ended, and helped spark a wave of interest in all things Japanese.
 The 1980 mini-series is now out on DVD. |
I was hooked by the book when it came out, and was equally crazed about the mini-series. Thanks to the recent release of "Shogun" in a five-disc DVD set, I was able to enjoy the story all over again, and was pleased to find that except for a truly appalling musical soundtrack that screamed "1970s horn section treatment a la 'Mannix' and other TV detective shows," the series holds its own decades after it was made.
That story took place two centuries earlier, and was about an English pilot-major, John Blackthorne (played by Richard Chamberlain), who was stranded in feudal Japan, just at the point when the country was closed off to the outside world, except for Portuguese traders and Jesuit priests. His Katsumoto character was lord Toranaga (also based on a true historical character, Tokugawa Ieyasu). Toranaga didn't speak English but the Lady Toda, the woman Blackthorne falls in love with did, because she was Christian and had learned from the Portuguese.
Like Algren in "The Last Samurai," Blackthorne thinks early in his tale that Europeans are more civilized and that the Japanese are cruel and barbaric, but later finds himself accepting the way of thinking he has come to know.
One of the more remarkable decisions made by the producers was that even though long passages of the miniseries featured Japanese dialogue, no English subtitles were offered. In the DVD's extra material, they explain that they wanted TV viewers to feel the same way Chamberlain's character felt -- mystified and uncomprehending -- and because the most important lines were interpreted for the character (by various characters including a Portuguese priest and Lady Toda), the viewers could learn Japanese little by little like Blackthorne. The process felt natural, for both the character and viewer. In "The Last Samurai," Cruise's chacarter seems to learn almost fluent Japanese after just a couple of months of hanging out in the village, and it's somewhat unbelievable (especially for anyone who's tried learning Japanese as an adult).
When the book came out, I recommended it to all my non-Japanese friends because the author James Clavell had so thoroughly researched medieval Japan that the book offered a great insight into the Japanese. I thought my friends would understand me better if they read "Shogun." I certainly felt as if I understood myself a little better. In a weird way, I compared it to the other multicultural hit of the time, "Roots." "Shogun" in a way was my "Roots."
I feel the same about some of the history told in the new movie.
If Americans go to see "The Last Samurai," they'd learn a thing or two about Japan of that time, and perhaps appreciate Japanese people just a little more. And like I said earlier, that's a good thing.
Besides, the soundtrack's a helluvalot less obnoxious than the one that blares out from "Shogun."