Seven Samurai (1954)

Toho almost went bankrupt when in 1954 Gojira and Seven Samurai was shot at the same time in gorgeous black and white. I watched the longest cut of Seven Samurai. I didn't want to miss anything. This is the first Akira Kurosawa movie I have ever watched. It was a great experience. 

There is a hopeless situation which needs to be solved. Villages of farmers are thretened and robbed by bandits constantly. Time and time again they come down from the mountains in order to take the money and the crops. They leave barely enough food for the villagers to survive until the next harvest.

One of these villages have enough of this situation and hire seven hungry samurai (ronins). Their task is to defeat the looters. Our heroes gather and get to know each other. They have to learn to work together. The seven samurai don't have the same experience and have different abilities.  Among them you can find wise veterans and young hotheads. A team of handful soldiers has to fight a whole army to survive. Because they are outnumbered they have to train the farmers to become soldiers. The farmers are very unexperienced but desperate too. The samurai must think up an elaborate plan. 

Seven Samurai is an exciting film. It takes place in beautiful locations. The atmosphere helps the audience to feel that they are in feudal Japan. The black and white pictue of the movie gives you a flawless high contrast effect. The revolutionary realistic direction and great scipt of Akira Kurosawa make this film a really fantastic expeience. He cared about to deal with tension. Tension makes the fights so interesting and exciting. You can watch extraordinarily stirring battle scenes. They are directed like you are in the middle of the battlegrounds. There is also enough time to develop the characters during the movie.

You can rarely hear music in the film. It is almost missing during the fight scenes. This method makes these scenes more realistic. When you hear the score it really enhances the mood of the dramatic scenes effectively.

Seven Samurai is not just a period adventure. Human relationships are in the centre. Akira Kurosawa gives enough time to let the story unfold and develop the characters. You can get know them. The performances of the actors are convincing enough.

You don't have to worry about the length of the film. During its runtime you can find a character to like. You can sympathize with these heroes who unfortunately lose their friends in battle. The creators made enough effort to achieve your care for them. I wouldn't like to spoil the ending by telling who dies and who survives. You have to see it for yourself. It would be shocking for you if the person who you root for dies.

Kurosawa's gogeous masterpiece made a great success. It is interesting to note that an American remake was made titled The Magnificent Seven in 1960. It used basically the main idea and concept of Seven Samurai but this time it was a  western film in colour.