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The Last Samurai
Nathan Algren is an American hired to instruct the Japanese army in the ways of modern warfare, which finds him learning to respect the samurai and the honorable principles that rule them. Pressed to destroy the samurai's way of life in the name of modernization and open trade, Algren decides to become an ultimate warrior himself and to fight for their right to exist.
2003 · Directed by Edward Zwick · 154 min · Drama · Action · War · Screenplay in the scene database · 14 frames
Tagline
In the face of an enemy, in the heart of one man, lies the soul of a warrior.
Plot
In 1876, former U.S. Army Captain Nathan Algren, an alcoholic traumatized by his actions during the American Indian Wars, is approached by his former commanding officer, Colonel Bagley. Bagley asks him to train the newly created Imperial Japanese Army for a Japanese businessman, Matsue Omura, who intends to use the army to suppress a samurai rebellion against Japan's new emperor. Despite his hatred of Bagley, Algren takes the job for the money. His old friend, Sergeant Zebulon Gant, accompanies him. Upon arriving, Algren meets Simon Graham, a British translator knowledgeable about the samurai.
Algren struggles to train the poorly disciplined Imperial conscripts. Omura and Bagley arrive with word of an attack by the rebels on one of Omura's railroads. Against his wishes, Algren is forced to lead a counterattack despite his warning that the recruits are not yet ready for a battle. His fears are proven true when the conscripts flee in terror and are easily routed by the samurai, while Gant is killed. Algren is wounded, and he is taken prisoner when samurai leader Moritsugu Katsumoto spares him. Imperial General Hasegawa, a former samurai who once served with Katsumoto, is allowed to commit seppuku.
Algren is taken to Katsumoto's village and, at Katsumoto's request, is taken in and tended to by Taka, Katsumoto's sister, who Algren later realizes is the widow of Hirotaro, a samurai he killed before being taken prisoner. While initially poorly treated, he eventually gains the samurai's respect. With Taka's help, Algren overcomes his alcoholism and guilt, learns the Japanese culture, and is trained in the art of kenjutsu. He develops sympathy for the samurai, who are upset that modernization has eroded their political power. Algren and Taka develop an unspoken affection for each other.
Plot summary from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA.
Crew
- Screenplay: Edward Zwick, Marshall Herskovitz, John Logan
- Cinematography: John Toll
- Edited by: Victor Du Bois, Steven Rosenblum
- Music: Hans Zimmer
- Production design: Lilly Kilvert
- Produced by: Paula Wagner, Marshall Herskovitz, Edward Zwick, Scott Kroopf
Cast
- Tom Cruise as Nathan Algren
- Ken Watanabe as Moritsugu Katsumoto
- Timothy Spall as Simon Graham
- Tony Goldwyn as Col. Benjamin Bagley
- Hiroyuki Sanada as Ujio
- Koyuki as Taka
- Shin Koyamada as Nobutada
- Billy Connolly as Zebulon Gant
- Togo Igawa as General Hasegawa
- Shichinosuke Nakamura as Emperor Meiji
Production
- Country: United States of America
- Language: English, Japanese
- Studios: Radar Pictures, Bedford Falls Productions, Cruise/Wagner Productions, Warner Bros. Pictures
- Budget: $140,000,000
- Box office: $456,800,000
- Themes: japan, samurai, swordplay, general, sense of guilt, war veteran, sword, war crimes, loss of loved one, self-discovery
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