Toshiro Mifune and Kiku Chiyo

Ida 2021-10-20 17:23:59

This is the second movie directed by Akira Kurosawa that I watched. The first is "Rashomon". Compared with "Rashomon", this film is indeed somewhat commercial and popular. This work, filmed in 1954, tells a legendary story wonderfully and not lacking in detail in the long three hours. Showing the turmoil of that era, the fragility of people, the relationship between people, and levels, etc., are all considered masters. But speaking of this film, in addition to the plot of the story, the director puts what he wants to say the most to express on the character Kikuchiyo played by Toshiro Mifune.

Toshiro Mifune was actually born in Qingdao, China, and went to Dalian with his father when he was 4 years old. After graduating from Dalian Middle School in 1938, he helped his father run a photo studio, and was soon enlisted in the local army. He returned to China in 1946 and entered the film industry in the same year. In 1948, he starred in Kurosawa Akira's film "Drunken Angels" and became famous in one fell swoop. In this way, he has worked with the master many times, and I think his role as a bandit in "Rashomon" is particularly refreshing. Although the fighting action can be said to be a little stiff and not wonderful, it does not leak the human twisted entanglement in the character's heart to the viewer.

In "Seven Samurai", Toshiro Mifune's performance is also considered to be excellent, but also because this role is suitable for him. First of all, we still have to say the classic lines. I don’t think there is much to comment on the previous episode. Speaking of Kikuchiyo, he was just a fake samurai who wanted to be a samurai. Especially he simply followed other samurai, or found fake genealogies to pretend to be a pure samurai family. In any case, most of the previous episodes gave people the impression that he was funny, humorous, and purely optimistic. But things are often not that simple. I think the film reached about 1 hour and 40 minutes, when Kiku Chiyo discovered that the villagers had privately stolen weapons from the fallen samurai and showed them to other samurai. He said the words in his heart, the distrust, contradictions and estrangements between the levels. The villagers secretly stored food under the floor, opened up hidden farmland in the mountain valleys, and hid the armor of the samurai at home, and even hid all the women for fear of the samurai's infringement. With all the mistrust, how can the samurai help this village? But this kind of mistrust also stems from the warrior class's own oppression of the peasants, making the peasants afraid, and even the love between the peasant and the samurai is forbidden. From the first time they hoped to hire a warrior with food in the city, it can be seen that the warrior said, "The fallen warrior will not accept peasants' alms!". What a tragic fate for farmers in such a hierarchical society. However, Kiku Chiyo was also born as a farmer, calling himself a samurai, hoping to live a noble life like a samurai, and at the same time pitying the pain of the farmer. Later, the elder's waterwheel was burned by bandits, while the poor children and women were still inside. But Kikuchiyo also gave up his post, gave up the post that the samurai wanted to hold on, and saved the mother and son. When he hugged the child, he cried. "This kid is the same as me. The whole family died when I was young."... This living character was shot to death by the bandit's head, but before he died, he held the knife and strode dying to kill the bandit. Head to head.

Kiku Chiyo played by Toshiro Mifune is always a vivid image in my mind

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Extended Reading

Seven Samurai quotes

  • Kambei Shimada: Train yourself, distinguish yourself in war... But time flies. Before your dream materializes, you get gray hair. By that time your parents and friends are dead and gone.

  • Woman Farmer: Is there no god to protect us? Land tax, forced labor, war, drought and now bandits! The gods want us farmers dead!