Plot Details: This opinion reveals major details about the movie's plot.

This is another classic Japanese film, made into a DVD by the Criterion Collection. It is widely thought to have been a direct influence on George Lucas for Star Wars. If that were its only claim to fame, I wouldn’t be writing this review. Because although I had my 'Star Wars' Period, and still can glean some entertainment from the overblown trilogy (and beyond) it has lost its appeal as GREAT cinema. And I am not willing to argue to the point, although I suspect I’ll see some of you in the comment section. Because while Star Wars is fun, kitschy, entertaining and sci-fi, The Hidden Fortress is great cinema. While Lucas has some imagination, Kurosawa was a genius of the media. There is a difference.

***Rant Alert***Rant alert***Rant alert***

The reason I start this review so argumentatively is because the only extra offered on this Criterion Collection is a videotaped interview with George Lucas, where he talks about Kurosawa’s influence. Some of what he says, I have to say, is right on. It is primarily Kurosawa’s VISUAL style that appeals to me, as it does to George Lucas. But he goes on to a few broader statements that have made me cringe.

Donald Richie, in his full length commentary in Rashomon speaks specifically of the movie’s impact in Japan. Somewhere in our misguided understanding, we believed that this movie had to come to America to be appreciated. This was simply not so, according to Richie. Richie says that Rashomon was widely popular in Japan, and Japan did not think to bring it to the international scene primarily because they didn’t think Europeans would understand either the story or its implications. (And this may have more truth to it than we care to admit) The Hidden Fortress is on record as being one of the highest grossing movies ever to be shown to Japanese audiences!

Lucas and Richie, then seem to have differing ideas of Kurosawa’s impact on film making in Japan, and it boils down to this. Lucas sees the western film influence on Kurosawa. He extrapolates that it was a western genre and could better be appreciated by Western Culture. Richie implies that instead, it is Kurosawa that greatly influenced Western film. My money is on Richie.

That Kurosawa had some bad years after his attempted suicide in Japan is certainly true. That he received criticism in Japan is also true. That he had his early training in western art and painting no doubt did influence his work. But that WESTERN FILM influenced his genius, I have serious doubts.


At the same time, Lucas says The Hidden Fortress influenced him 'a little' but it wasn’t his favorite Kurosawa film. He said that what he took away was the story being told by fringe, or minor characters in the bigger scheme, and that the association with a princess is incidental. He says his princess is a “fighting” princess. Well George, I hope you have actually seen this movie since making that statement, because that statement suggests that you didn’t watch it very well.

The broader story is as close a parallel as you can be without using the same names. In order to give point by point comparisons, though, I’d have to watch Star Wars again, and honestly, I don’t feel the need or the desire. The two droids, Lucas feels, are analogous to the two peasants in Kurosawa’s film. The droids are cute, and trendy, but these peasants are wonderfully, hilariously and totally human. There simply is no comparison. Were they minor characters in the big picture? Perhaps, but Kurosawa's peasants were active participants as well.

So a critical examination of Star Wars next to the Hidden Fortress leaves Star Wars lagging, in my estimation. Where Kurosawa’s film tells a story by visual means, it has at its base, the essence of being human to recommend it. The droids in Star are not capable of greed, or passion, nor do they get hungry. So what kind of internal conflict and interest can be generated by two such artificial characters? Thankfully, there are other characters to make up for that in Star Wars. The Hidden Fortress shows the extremes in the noblest actions, side by side with the basic urges of hunger and greed, and even lust, and yet we don’t come out of it feeling hopeless, a single action away from being taken over by the Dark Side. The droids of Star survive. The peasants in The Hidden Fortress evolve.

The movie that I think most resembles this one is the anime classic, Princess Mononoke.

***END OF RANT***


Kurosawa did a few very interesting things in this epic Samurai saga, that were both classically Japanese, and also mocking of the popular genre in Japan. The fight scenes are done as no one else has done them, and seen in an especially interesting way (except for the duel) from the standpoint of non-participants, the peasants, who arrive too late to fight, but not too late to be stuck with burial detail. The big duel was done with spears, and there all the classic elements of choreographed fighting are used.. The ultimate result of the duel is surprising, and perhaps more than a little counter culture., as the bested dueler acts in a completely unexpected, and therefore wonderful way, at the very end of the film. The artificial points of honor and shame give way to bigger human virtues of friendship and heroism. What a terrific message to give any culture, too steeped in its own traditions to understand the best of what it means to be human!

Nothing that Kurosawa does is an accident. I think that is important to understand before you begin your viewing adventure. He points out problems in his own culture with the same honesty , finding a particularly Japanese point to make, about honor and tradition And make no mistake, this flouting was intentional. As an example, in a mid movie scene, the princess berates Makabe, her protective guardian, for sacrificing his own sister for her safety. She derides him harshly for his nobility, not seeing it as a point of honor.
“I am 16, she was 16. What difference was there in our souls?”
That our sympathy is for the noble Makabe is irrelevant. The words are spoken and they are meant to be heard. If Kurosawa had been born an American, I can only wonder how he would have represented the flaws in our culture. Did the Japanese take that as a betrayal of Eastern Culture to Western Culture? I can’t see it.

This piece is primarily a comedy. It is funny in ways that American films have not yet begun to approach, although there are some rip-offs in American film where these bickering peasants have a parallel pair...something that can be seen in almost any “buddy film” ever made. Kurosawa did not originate the genre of the buddy film, but he made one of the best examples of the genre, in The Hidden Fortress. There are levels and layers of the way royalty, the honored military and the peasants are all supposed to act, and Kurosawa breaks all the conventions, deliberately one by one. The only thing that seems constant is the greed of the peasants, but as you will see if you watch it, even that will change in the end.

FILM ELEMENTS

Cinematography as usual is top of the line, with brilliant long shots bringing us to each character, emphasizing their place in time and space as we come in for a closer look. No one, to my knowledge uses the environment with as much skill as Kurosawa. The scenes that lead up to the discovery of the hidden fortress are, in a word, brilliant. As an experiment, this time, I stopped the film at several points randomly and snapped a still photograph of each random scene. Each frame maintains perfect composition and balance of contrasts. The action scenes as they progress across the screen vibrate with energy. One of the best action scenes I remember ever filmed is the scene where Makabe fights soldiers on horseback and in a long shot like no other, ends dramatically and abruptly in the enemy camp.

The music in this film was brilliantly used, to emphasize different situations and herald events. The score was contributed by Masaro Sato. This is classic Kurosawa manipulation, even if he claims to have no musical sense. And this movie actually includes a beautifully choreographed song and dance number (the Fire dance!) You don’t believe me? Well you need to watch the flick then.


Shinobu Hashimoto again gets screenwriting credits for this film, as in most of Kurosawa's Samurai epics.
If there is any problem with the film, it is with pacing. As in most of his films, Kurosawa takes a very long time for exposition, to make sure that we understand all the nuances in the story. All the details will make sense by the end of the movie. It takes twenty minutes, for example, for our two clowns to establish the particulars of their characters, and another twenty for us to meet two more characters, and it will be over an hour before we meet the sixth and last important participant in this story. The whole film is over two hours long. But it is not boring.

THE PLOT

I don’t think there are any plot points that require hiding in a film that was made in 1958. So consider this your one and only spoiler alert.***-I’ll make it as brief as possible though.


“You stink”

Two peasants are coming home from the “war”. They got there too late to fight, were taken as part of the defeated army and were put on forced burial detail. They escaped, but it has been two days since they had water. They are in the middle of nowhere. They are bickering and razzing each other as only long time friends could do. Suddenly, a samurai runs out in front of them, followed by a group of soldiers that kill him. He freezes in the fastest rigor mortis I have ever seen, a fearsome grimace on his face. They debate robbing the corpse. Tahei the taller one, says he may be a bum, but he’s not a thief. They argue. The shelter one, Matakishi, stays to take the clothes, and they split up, hoping to return to their home in Hayakawa.

Once again, the fierce Yamani soldiers take them and a group of peasants prisoner, and put them to work to dig for the gold that they believe is hidden under the foundation by the escaping princess of the defeated Akizuki. They manage to escape, and once again head for home, knowing three important things : there is a reward for the return of the princess, a large amount of gold is missing, and the border they had planned to cross to home is heavily guarded by the Yamani. They are fixing a meal of rice from a stream, when Matakishi flings the wood away, it makes a clunking sound, and they find a piece of gold inside the wood. This makes them start to search for the rest of the gold, they expect to find nearby hidden in pieces of firewood. They search for awhile, and discover an observer, a fierce looking man, they assume to be like themselves, a wanderer, and a seeker of fortune. They grudgingly respect him, and he laughingly tells them his name is Makabe, a legendary Akizuki general. Of course they don’t believe him (Although we later learn it is the truth, they do not ever believe the truths they are told, time and again).

"I hate the way you blink your eyes all the time!"

Makabe puts them to work digging for gold, and observes them. Meanwhile, a mysterious girl is seen, and the peasants naturally lust after her. Makabe prevents them from chasing her. As they continue digging and getting nowhere, they decide Makabe is lying to them and had the gold hidden in the little stream where they first found water to boil rice. They go there to confront him and get the gold, when they again see the mysterious girl. They forget about the gold, and they chase her through the woods, where she defeats their purposes easily. But they find a comb with the royal crest and this sets there little pea brains working.

They confront Makabe, and he says he turned in the princess, and the sound of the reward money is mesmerizing, as he slowly counts it from one hand to another . They almost believe him.. Matakishi though heads for towed to sell his little piece of evidence, but comes back , confirming that the “princess was taken” and “beheaded yesterday”. Well I don’t know about you but I was pretty sure that wild girl WAS the princess!

Makabe though, in a brilliantly acted scene, has a look of resigned sadness, and with complete quiet and stoic dignity goes to inform those who are hidden safe deep within the mountain fortress, that his sister has done her duty as stand in for the princess and it is time to escape while the Yamani guard is down. The girl explodes in anger and asks the question that will in the end, be answered by the noble sacrifices of those devoted to her. Makabe’s 16 year old sister will be the first of three noble sacrifices made for the princess.

They make ready to leave, the sticks containing the hidden gold strapped to their backs and to the backs of three horses. They leave just in time, for the Yamani soldiers discover the fortress not long after they leave, and it is burnt to the ground, and three noble members of the royal household are sacrificed to delay the pursuit and warn them of the approach of the enemy.

They make their way slowly but find instead of the free boarder they expected, another checkpoint. To distract the soldiers, Makabe pulls out a piece of gold and sends them on a wild goose chase to look for it, while the princess and peasants proceed through the checkpoint.
Within minutes, the soldiers find they were duped, and the tension mounts as the Yamani pursue the little entourage. The peasants believe the girl to be a deaf mute, and this sets up even more comic scenes as they chatter back and forth. When they come to a town, and plan to rest, their horses are “bought” although they are given little choice in the matter, and the princess discovers one of her subjects has been sold into slavery. She demands that her freedom be purchased, and although they are now pushing a cart with the firewood, they try to send her away. She stays, and they almost fool a patrol searching for firewood, three men and a girl, with 3 horses. But they come back, and Makabe fights them all, stealing a horse and going after the others to prevent them reporting to the enemy. He defeats them all except for one, and he pursues him directly into the center of the enemy camp.

An old and respected enemy, General Hyoe Tadokoro is an honorable man and proposes a duel. They joke a little first obviously liking each other very much. This is the honorable way to treat a fellow samurai general. The duel is very traditional and Makabe wins, although he fails to kill his opponent , Instead choosing to ride away. “I’ll see you again someday, “ he says. Is this a cruel act or an act of kindness? This seems out of place for the story, but it is the critical plot point after which all things will follow.

That should be enough to give you a head start on viewing this film yourself. Don’t worry, I’ve left quite a bit for you to discover on your own.

This is the fire song that all sang and danced to, including Mifune!

The life of a man
Burn it with fire
The life of an insect
Throw it into the fire
Ponder and you will see
The world is dark
and this floating world
is a dream.

Is that the message, after all?


A note on this Criterion Collection selection: Don’t pay the extra money for George Lucas’ interview, but if you decide to purchase it, do so for the excellent video transfer, and for the soundtrack, which looks and sounds much as the original must have 44 years ago. This DVD was released in May of 2001.

THE CAST

Minoru Chiaki-as Tahei (the taller of the two peasants). In Rashomon, he was the mild mannered priest. Here his character is quite different, full of energy and fun, even if not terribly bright. I like him a lot in this movie, and the banter he develops with his fellow peasant is very funny. The chemistry of those two was terrific, and the acting superb. There are many dimensions to this actor, that I little suspected. This actor was the last surviving of the original Seven Samurai. He had a stroke in the 70's and went on to win an acting award in 1985!

Susumu Fujita as General Hyoe Tadokoro-An interesting character, almost as heroic as our great Mifune, but of course does not have the same stage presence. He held up pretty well during the duel, and is the only character who must change in order for the story to have a happy ending. I thought he was excellent, a bad guy who was obviously doing his duty, but yet has the ability to think for himself. Oh All right! It does have an American Western taint to it!

Kamatari Fujiwara as Matakishi-the feisty skinny little peasant who clearly is the faster thinker of the two buddies in this film, and has been a peasant for Kurosawa before. He was wonderful. He played little old men and peasants for most of his career. You may remember him as the peasant who tries to disguise his daughter so the samurai won't get her, in SEVEN SAMURAI.

Toshiko Higuchi as The Farmer’s daughter- a pretty girl, although not dramatically pretty. She is the only character, other than the general and the princess who is able to figure out what is going on. My favorite scene is when Makabe swoops down on horseback and rescues her, when it seemed she had been forgotten. She had a three year career, and this was her first movie.

Toshiro Mifune-as General Rokurota Makabe-this has got to be the most noble and heroic role that Mifune ever had in the Samurai series. In this one, he is all nobility, flawed perhaps by his sense of honor and duty, but redeemed by his ready smile and the loyalty of friendship. I never tire of watching Mifune, even with the weight of eight years added to his powerful frame since RASHOMON.

Eiko Miyushi-the lady in waiting-this woman is older, more of a governess to the young princess. She says what she thinks of the impertinence of the young princess, who says the wrong things, because her father mistakenly, raised her as a boy!

Takashi Shimura as The Old General, Izumi Nagakura-he is barely recognizable here, but is one of the heroic servants that stay in the hidden fortress, as a sacrifice to help the young princess escape. This is an amazing actor, althugh his role here is minor.

Kichijiro Ueda-as The Girl -Dealer-Another regular in a small role. He tries to “buy” the princess who is masquerading as a deaf mute. A perfectly slimy individual indeed, and a Kurosawa regular at this pont.

Misa Uehara-as Princess Yukihime-Loved the actress, thought she was quite beautiful but the sound of her high pitched strident screeching about drove me to drink. Her best scenes are indeed her silent ones. Two movies total, and this was one of them.

Koji Mitsui as Soldier. Not a regular for Kurosawa.

Tadao Nakumaru as Young man

Rinsaka Ogata as Young man

Sh*ten Ohashi as Samurai-the first one I believe. A quite horrendous masque of terror on his face, I must say.

Ikio Sawamura as Gambler


FINAL RECOMMENDATION

This is a fun movie, that poses interesting questions. It uses the peasant point of view to tell an fascinating and heroic story. While still of the Samurai series, Mifune’s Samarai here is a different character, finally a hero who doesn’t scratch and clown around, laughing maniacally. I rather miss the old renegade though. This is a romantic comedic tale. It is a Japanese buddy movie as well, with a little exceptional heroism thrown in.

I would suggest that some of it be taken seriously. Remember, nothing is accidental with Kurosawa. Watch the movie at least twice. (There is nothing not to love in this movie. The Japanese audience agreed, making it the highest grossing of any of Kurosawa’s films.)




Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Fit for Friday Evening
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older