Unlike the widely circulated Chinese title "Death Sword", I think the English samural rebellion is more appropriate to the original meaning. Similar to "Cut the Belly", it also tells the story of officials forcing the people to rebel, and the people had to rebel. Moreover, this citizen, often a mob, had to bring a bunch of people to accompany him before being suppressed. In Kurosawa Akira's films, we often see Toshiro Mifune appearing in the image of Gao Daquan; but Kobayashi Masaki is different. There are few fights in the early stage of his films, and most of the time he shows us the samurai in peacetime. How miserable and helpless. Bureaucratic oppression, firewood, rice, oil and salt, marrying a wife and having children, and the future of their children, can't help but feel that the warriors live in grievances, and even our audience sees grief. And worst of all, it didn't end well in the end. Even though this can be explained by the Japanese culture of pain, I don't think the director is just trying to continue the people's preferences. He is using the thinking of modern society to interpret a declining shogunate era.
Today, more than 40 years later, this feeling is especially strong.
When I watched "Cut the Belly", I felt that the amount of hidden information of Kobayashi Masaki was large enough to be split out to write N movie reviews, and the same is true for "The Sword of Death". In particular, the discussion on women's values is also added, and the concept of women breaking through traditional constraints and pursuing freedom and happiness is also of practical significance in Japan, which has a history of giving preference to women over women. The multifaceted character of the protagonist in the film, which combines retainers, fathers, and husbands, shows people's struggles in the historical trend from different aspects. It's just a pity that the invincible swordsman finally died under the arquebus, which also faintly revealed the powerful erosion ability of Western civilization.
When foreigners comment on Akira Kurosawa, they always like to emphasize his humanitarian concern. And Kobayashi Masaki put more energy on the topic of "people's livelihood". He tried his best to restore the real life of that era, even if it brought a tragedy to the audience. Because, behind the glorious image of the samurai, life is like this. They may take risks for any reason: love, family, salary... not just glory
ps Nakadai was once again killed by Mifune. . . I can't count how many times this is TAT
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