Seven Samurai [DVD] [1954]

The basic story is extremely simple. In a period of social chaos, a small farming village learns it will once more be attacked by a band of thirty bandits after the harvest. At first the farmers despair, but village elder Gisaku (Kokuten Kodo) recalls that in his childhood a similar village met a similar situation by hiring Samurai to defend them. The villagers accordingly send representatives to the city, where they are able to convince Samurai Kambei Shimada (Takashi Shimura) to undertake the defense.

If the plot sounds familiar, it should: Hollywood would translate it into the extremely popular 1960 western THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN--but fine though that film is, it pales beside THE SEVEN SAMURAI, which effectively turns an action film premise into a character study of the first order and endows the story with both tremendous simplicity and artistry. Much of this is due an extraordinary ensemble cast, which includes the celebrated Toshiro Mifune (who would later appear in Kurosawa's THRONE OF BLOOD and YOJIMBO); above this, however, is Kurosawa's remarkable vision that draws upon the visual motif of the circle.

The circle is a powerful presence in SAMURAI. The village is presented as a roughly circular pattern of houses; the farmers meet in circles; in due time the Samurai enter the circle and stand at the center of the circle, directing the defense--and indeed the circle will become the defense, as Shimada works to find means to draw the bandits into the circle and to their doom. The motif will be elaborated: tied to the cycle of seed time, growth time, and harvest; tied to the cycle of life; and ultimately showing the quiet bitterness of life for those who operate outside the circular codes of community: the "Ronin," the Samurai who have no master and no community, and whose lives are not valued by the community except for aid at a moment of crisis.

Shot in simple black and white, as much (if not more) a detailed character and culture study as it is an action film, THE SEVEN SAMURAI is extremely simple and yet extremely subtle, and ultimately one of the most powerful films it has been my pleasure to review. The quality of the Criterion DVD transfer is very good, but by no means flawless--although it survives well, the film has not been digitally restored, and artifacts are frequent. There is little in the way of bonus material, but the commentary by Michael Jeck is quite fine. Strongly recommended.

GFT, Amazon Reviewer

Kurosawa draws fantastic performances from his cast, most notably Takashi Shimura (as the samurai leader Kambei, the living embodiment of the samurai code) and Toshiro Mifune (as the peasant turned warrior, Kikuchiyo), and marshals the elements for an astonishing climactic battle scene in the mud and the rain. This ten-minute sequence has to be seen to be believed; the images have a painterly quality (Kurosawa trained in western-style painting) but are also extremely realistic, perfectly capturing the chaos of the battlefield as figures wade through the mire, hacking at each other. I've heard it remarked that this sequence was in Spielberg's mind when he conceived the Omaha Beach landing scene in Saving Private Ryan; and indeed, the use of grainy film stock, the slightly speeded-up movement and fast editing, and the depiction of war as utter chaos all seem rooted in Kurosawa.

A final word: do not be put off by the 190 minute running time or the fact that it is subtitled. Although Kurosawa has the reputation of an auteur, he was also a brilliant and influential storyteller. This is perhaps the most entertaining great movie ever made.