"The Last Samurai"

[ollie]

Just watched the DVD. It is a good movie, very much in the same category as "Brave heart". It is a movie that could be better appreciated on the big movie screen as it is epic in visual presentations and proportions. The small TV screen can not always do this justice.
Tom Cruise and the cast do very well.
The movie helps one to understand a small part of what Japan is about. Allbeit the western world was a strong influence in corrupting Japan's culture and the movie analogizes the white man's corruption and treatment of the natural natives of America with what was happening in Japan.

Ollie

[kestrel]

I really liked it... Especially the end. Like you said, Ollie, it does help one to understand a small part of what Japan is all about. I recommend it!

[Allinall]

"Tell me, how did he die?"
"I will teach you how he lived."

Love those lines!  Great movie.

[DovesWings]

I have to agree...I didn't think I'd really like it, but it sucked me in(and not b/c it was Tom Cruise).  The story line was really good, and I was pleasantly pleased w/ the overall movie.

[sincereheart]

"The first contact with the West occurred about 1542, when a Portuguese ship, blown off its course to China, landed in Japan. Firearms introduced by Portuguese would bring the major innovation to Sengoku period culminating in the Battle of Nagashino where reportedly 3.000 rifles (actual number is believed to be around 2.000) cut down charging ranks of Samurai. During the next century, traders from Portugal, the Netherlands, England, and Spain arrived, as did Jesuit, Dominican, and Franciscan missionaries."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Japan