The last Samourai

Synopsis

The film is partially inspired by the Satsuma rebellion in 1877 , a samurai rebellion led by Takamori Saigō against the Japanese imperial army, and the story of Jules Brunet , a French officer who resigned from the French army by loyalty to the last Tokugawa shogun Yoshinobu who had previously passed a treaty of friendship with Napoleon III .

In 1876, Nathan Algren, a veteran of the Indian Wars, was hired by the politician and adviser of Emperor Meiji , Omura. The latter wants to get rid of a former Japanese army general, the legendary samurai Katsumoto, and hires Algren to train the Japanese army.

While Japanese conscripts wait in a forest in Yoshino for the arrival of the samurai, the latter attack and kill them. Algren is captured and taken to the village of Katsumoto’s son, Nobutada, far into the mountains. In daily contact with samurai, Algren is seduced by their state of mind and values, which Katsumoto tries to preserve. It is alongside the samurai that he takes part at the end of the old order, guided by his sense of honor.

Katsumoto returns to Tokyo, the imperial capital. New laws go against the samurai order. Katsumoto pleads their case with the emperor, but he is rejected. He returned to the mountains with Algren, and soon the army came to fight.

In the one battle, where the number and superiority of the equipment is on the side of the government army, the rebels inflict heavy losses on the army, but lose the battle. Katsumoto, seriously injured by Gatling machine gun fire , asks Algren to help him practice seppuku .

Algren survives, and hands Katsumoto’s sword back to the Emperor, who then revises his judgment and disavows Omura and the US ambassador.

Technical sheet

• Title: The Last Samurai
• Original title: The Last Samurai
• Director: Edward Zwick
• Scenario: John Logan , Edward Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz
• Production: Tom Cruise , Tom Engelman , Marshall Herskovitz , Scott Kroopf , Paula Wagner , Edward Zwick , Ted Field , Charles Mulvehill and Richard Solomon
• Production Company: Warner Bros. Pictures
• Distribution Company: Warner Bros. Entertainment
• Budget: $ 140 million
• Music: Hans Zimmer (additional: Geoff Zanelli , Blake Neely , Trevor Morris and Bart Hendrickson )
• Photography: John Toll
• Editing: Victor Du Bois and Steven Rosenblum
• Sets: Lilly Kilvert  (en)
• Costumes: Ngila Dickson
• Country of origin: New Zealand , United States , Japan
• Language: English , Japanese
• Format: Color – 2.35: 1 – DTS / Dolby Digital / SDDS – 35 mm
• Genre: Adventure , drama , action , war
• Duration: 154 minutes
• Release dates:
  •  Japan and New Zealand : November 22, 2003 (world premiere)
  •  United States and Canada : December 5,2003
  •  France and Belgium : 14 January 2004

Distribution

• Tom Cruise (VF: Jean-Philippe Puymartin ) : Captain Nathan Algren
• Ken Watanabe (VF: Tōru Tanabe ) : Lord Katsumoto
• Masato Harada (VF: Santha Leng ) : the industrialist and politician Omura
• Tony Goldwyn (VF: Bernard Lanneau ) : Lieutenant Colonel Benjamin Bagley
• Shichinosuke Nakamura (VF: Takashi Eijiro ) : Emperor Meiji
• Timothy Spall (VF: Gérard Boucaron ) : Simon Graham
• Shin Koyamada (VF: Uchiyama Hiro ) : Nobutada
• Hiroyuki Sanada : Ujio
• Seizō Fukumoto : the silent samurai, says Bob
• Togo Igawa : the general of the Japanese army
• Koyuki Katō : Taka
• Billy Connolly (VF: Yves Barsacq ) : Zebulon Glove
• Sosuke Ikematsu : Higen
• Aoi Minato : Magojiro
• Masashi Odate : the partner of Omura
• John Koyama : the bodyguard of Omura
• Sven Toorvald : Omura’s secretary
• Scott Wilson (VF: Michel Fortin ) : Ambassador Swanbeck

Sources and legend : French version (VF) on AlloDoublage ¹

Production

Filming took place in New Zealand , with a Japanese cast and an American team. The views of Mount Fuji have been added thanks to computer-generated images, giving the illusion of seeing the mountain from Yokohama . Many scenes were also shot in California, in the studios of the Warner.

Music

All music was composed by Hans Zimmer and played by the Hollywood Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Blake Neely .

1. A Way of Life 8:03
2. Spectra in the Fog 4:07
3. Taken 3:36
4. A Hard Teacher 5:44
5. To Know My Enemy 4:49
6. Idyll’s End 6:41
7. Safe passage 4:57
8. Ronin 1:53
9. Red Warrior 3:56
10. The Way of the Sword 7:59
11. A Small Measure of Peace 7:59

Reception

The film was a commercial success, earning $ 456,758,981 in global box office (including $ 111,127,263 in the US ), ranking sixth in the global box office of films released in 2003 ² . It attracted 2,181,681 spectators in the cinemas in France , 577,933 in Belgium , 516,394 in Quebec and 327,629 in Switzerland ³ .

It receives 65% of positive reviews, with an average score of 6.4 / 10 and based on 216 reviews collected, on the website Rotten Tomatoes ⁴ . He scores 55/100, based on 44 critics, on Metacritic ⁵ .

Distinctions

Unless otherwise stated, this list comes from information on the Internet Movie Database ⁶ .

Awards

• NBR Award for Best Director in 2003.
• Satellite Awards for Best Photography, Best Costumes, Best Editing and Best Music in 2004.
• Award of the Japanese Academy for Best Foreign Film in 2005

Appointments

• 76th Academy Awards (2004)
  • Best Supporting Actor for Ken Watanabe
  • Best Art Direction for Lilly Kilvert  (in) and Gretchen Rau
  • Best costumes for Ngila Dickson
  • Best sound mix for Andy Nelson , Anna Behlmer and Jeff Wexler
• Golden Globes for Best Actor in a feature film for Tom Cruise , Best Supporting Actor in a Feature Film for Ken Watanabe and Best Soundtrack in 2004.
• MTV Movie Award for best actor for Tom Cruise in 2004.
• 6 nominations at the Satellite Awards in 2004.
• 5 nominations at the Saturn Awards in 2004.

External links

• (en) The Last Samurai [ archive ] on the Internet Movie Database
• (fr) [1] [ archive ]
• (In) Official website [ archive ]
• (En) The Last Samurai : from reality to dream. Article published on the website of the magazine Histoire et Images médiévales , October 27, 2014. [ archive ]

Notes and references