Seven Samurai (1954) - Review by Samuel Dyck

Film History:

The film Seven Samurai was directed by Akira Kurosawa and was released in 1954. The film was made in Japan and its full content is in Japanese. Seven Samurai is about seven Ronin’s who are hired by a small village to help them defeated a group of bandits who are going to attack the village in order to take their food that they have harvested during the year. The bandits are defeated in the end but with the cost of all but three of the Samurai.

Historical Analysis:

The film takes place in medieval Japan at a time of conflict within the country. Most of these conflicts where of family vs family. This is not the case in this film which looks more at the culture of the Samurai and the code that they lived by. This theme is evident throughout the film. In the Way of the Samurai, by Yamaga Soko, it talks about how that a Samurai has the duty to serve not just their master (in this case they don’t have one) but also the people of Japan. This is seen when the Samurai were asked for help by the villagers, they had the responsibility to do so. The Samurai’s Code is also seen in the scene where a child is being held by a thief. One of them goes in and kills the thief in order to save the child. This is an example of how one might want peace but also is ready to use their weapon if need be.