Isaburo Sasahara was a vassal of the Aizu Matsudaira Domain. One day, the lord Matsudaira Masaru ordered him to give his son and Goro his wife, Aichi, his side chamber. Isaburo, who entered the Sasahara family and swallowed his voice in front of his stubborn wife, did not want his son to repeat his mistakes and was reluctant to accept orders, but he was powerless to disobey. Yugoro soon married Aichi. Unexpectedly, Aichi loved her husband very much and filial piety to her in-laws. Soon, she gave birth to a daughter, Dengmei, and the family lived a very happy life. The lord's first son, Masao, died suddenly, and Aichi's son Kikuchiyo became the heir. As a result, the identity of Aichi was different, and the lord ordered Isaburo to return Aichi. The angry Isaburo and Yogoro raised the flag of rebellion, and in the fight, the kidnapped Aichi and Yogoro were killed together. Isaburo and Tomi went to the shogunate to accuse the feudal lord of the evil deeds, but the killer who was chasing appeared in front of him again.
Shochiku director Masaki Kobayashi, who debuted a few years later than Akira Kurosawa, is definitely an authentic Japanese director. Also good at directing period dramas, the reason why he is famous internationally is not the modern consciousness of Akira Kurosawa's "international thought", but relying entirely on his traditional style. Kobayashi's reputation in his hometown is also related to Akira Kurosawa. The representative works of Kobayashi's period dramas "Cut the Belly" and "Strange Talk", with their eerie and mysterious styles, undoubtedly belong to the "pure period drama" of the classical style like Kenji Mizoguchi. Moreover, it was very difficult for him to shoot such period dramas in the environment of the 1960s. Different from Mizoguchi's lingering style that focuses on ancient women, Kobayashi's perspective often focuses on ancient men. If Mizoguchi is compared to Kawabata Yasunari, then Kobayashi is undoubtedly Mishima Yukio. Kobayashi Gangyang's tragic classical taste contrasts with Mizoguchi's feminine and poignant beauty.
"Samurai Rebellion" is Kobayashi Masaki's re-adaptation of Yasuhiko Takiguchi's historical novel after "Belly Cut". It is also written by Shinobu Hashimoto (Kurosawa Akira's period dramas are also mostly written by this gentleman). In fact, this film is not A sword and halberd film in a pure sense, but a mixture of a "pure period drama" and a sword and halberd film. In my opinion, Kobayashi is like Mizoguchi and Akira Kurosawa combined.
The plot of "Samurai Rebellion" has a strong classical taste. This is a very pure historical story: the feudal lord gave the princes the side room like a gift, and later the concubine of the side room inherited the throne. In such a plot, in Ihara Nishizuru's "Lady Generation", Tanizaki Junichiro's "Major General Shigan" A similar passage can be found in "My Mother". However, Kobayashi's description of this ancient "ridiculous" story is not "ridiculous" to the end. The young couple sacrificed their love, and in the end, it was to set off the protagonist Isaburo's resistance - embarking on the road of sword and halberd films (largely killing ring) to pave the way.
In the previous 90% of the film, Kobayashi's portrayal of all the characters is very traditional and delicate. Atmospheric rendering is his forte. Kobayashi uses Japanese Noh (Toru Takemitsu) as the background music, and the meticulous performance of sound, color, light and shadow creates a secluded and mysterious atmosphere. In the ancient house, the elegant screen is swaying with projections of branches, a metaphor for drama. The inner ups and downs of the characters. Full of classic fun. There is such a set of scenes in the film: the husband Goro is discouraged and admits defeat, and the wife immediately falls down with her elbows on the ground after listening to it. The characters use body movements to express their inner situation particularly delicately.
In the last 10% of the film, the pure battle (martial drama) begins. Bloodbath mansion, master duel, massacre in the reeds. To borrow a sentence from Tatsuya Nakadai's evaluation of Toshirô Mifune in the film, it can also explain the structure of the film: when someone forces you, you back off, and when you force it, you back off again, and finally back into a desperate situation, like a mountain torrent. --The first 90% of the detailed presentation of the film is really full of energy, and it is a blockbuster if it doesn't make a sound at the end.
