The 70th Anniversary Restoration Of SEVEN SAMURAI

 

Last night I had the great privilege of seeing the 70th anniversary restoration of Akira Kurosawa's SEVEN SAMURAI on the big screen, at the Browning Cinema on the campus of the University of Notre Dame, along with my good friend Paul Lyzun. 

Seeing SEVEN SAMURAI under any circumstances is a treat, but viewing a fantastic looking and sounding version of it in an actual theater, with an audience, was magnificent. There's no need for me to state how great this film is--but watching it again last night did make me notice a few things in particular. 

One is what an exemplary performance Takashi Shimura gives as Kambei, the leader of the Seven. When it comes to actors in this film everyone talks about Toshiro Mifrune as the roguish Kikuchiyo--it is the showiest role, and Mifune does make the most of it (and the audience last night had a big reaction to his antics). But Shimura is the heart and soul of this picture, he's the one that holds everything together. Kambei is such a wise and knowing leader that not only would you want the man next to you during a difficult situation, but you'd want him to coach your favorite sports team. SEVEN SAMURAI doesn't even contain Shimura's greatest performance--that would be his haunting portrayal in Kurosawa's IKIRU--but the movie shows what a fine (and underrated) actor he was. 

Something else about Takashi Shimura's Kambei--he's the original Jedi Master. THE HIDDEN FORTRESS gets the major credit as the main Kurosawa influence on George Lucas and STAR WARS, but SEVEN SAMURAI should get plenty of notice as well. (As Paul Lyzun pointed out to me, the villagers joining together to fight the bandits are basically the Ewoks battling the Imperial troops on Endor.) SEVEN SAMURAI has inspired hundreds of movies and TV shows--or more accurately, hundreds of movies and TV shows have ripped it off, including less obvious examples like THE A-TEAM and THE LEGEND OF THE 7 GOLDEN VAMPIRES. A group of misfits banding together to accomplish an impossible mission? That has to be one of the most frequently used tropes in filmed entertainment history....but no one did it like Akira Kurosawa did. 

What really comes out in SEVEN SAMURAI is Kurosawa's adept use of the environment and the terrain. No director used such elements so well as Kurosawa did (except maybe John Ford and David Lean). You don't think you're just watching a movie while viewing SEVEN SAMURAI--you believe you are in 16th Century Japan, and you are witnessing a real-life event unfold in front of your eyes. Wind, rain, fire, mist--you feel as if you are experiencing all these things along with the characters. That's how effective and complete the situation is that Kurosawa created here. 

There's not as many action sequences in SEVEN SAMURAI as one would think (it's actually more of a character study). But when the action does come, it's swift and compelling. The final battle isn't filled with perfectly choreographed moves and tight editing, it's presented as a muddy, chaotic mess, as if the actors are actually trying to kill each other, while at the same time not having much of an idea about what is happening. It's no video game, that's for sure. 

If the restored version of SEVEN SAMURAI happens to be playing at a theater near you, by all means take the opportunity to see it. It truly is one of the greatest movies ever made.