A martial arts and katana instructor awards Seven Samurai A half-decent view for its summarizing realism. Directed by Akira Kurosawa and released in 1954, Seven Samurai Tells the story of a band of samurai warriors who gather to protect a village from violent bandits. The film, which stars Toshirô Mifune, Takashi Shimura, Keiko Tsushima and Kamatari Fujiwara, is widely regarded as one of the best samurai movies ever made, and would inspire a Western remake in the form of The Magnificent Seven (1960).
In a recent video for InsideSeki Nobuhide Sensei, a martial arts expert and katana instructor, analyzes one fight scene from Seven Samurai which involves combat against horse-riding opponents. Seki breaks down how a samurai at the time would have dealt with an enemy on horseback, revealing that the film gets several aspects right. One character’s use of a bow and arrow is also believableAlthough Seki admits that normally a weapon would not like that would not be used at such close range. Check out his comments or watch the video (relevant section starts at 19:04) below:
“For those on horseback, the handling of the sword is important because you cannot cut the horse’s neck or reins. That is why one had to use such a sword so that it would not interfere with the neck of the horse in front of them. For those on The ground, it is disadvantageous to fight someone on horseback, so the best way is to drag them down with a tool like Musha-otushi as I mentioned before. The other way is to damage the horse itself, something that makes the horse hurt and uncomfortable .
“As for whether the bow was effective or not, in a melee situation like that, you shoot the enemy from an outside position. Normally, it would be weird to use a bow at such a close range, but I think it’s effective Because the enemy is on horseback, a bow attack is effective because it allows you to shoot from a position where the person on horseback cannot reach.
“I give it a seven [out of 10] on the reality scale.”
What the degree of realism of Seven Samurai means for the film’s reputation
Akira Kurosawa’s film is a masterpiece
Kurosawa is widely regarded as one of the best and most important filmmakers of all time, and Seven Samurai is perhaps his most iconic film. The film currently enjoys a perfect 100% score Rotten tomatoesA truly rare feat. The audience score doesn’t quite reach the heights, but it’s still remarkably high at 97%. Seven SamuraiTherefore, is an undeniable classic, and It would certainly not be out of place to use the word “masterpiece“When describing it.
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The fact that Seven Samurai Is not entirely realistic is not likely to affect the film’s reputation. It was made 70 years ago at a time when the technology available to make films was not as advanced as it is today. Although there was clearly a lot of attention paid during production in terms of customizing and production design, Elements of the combat have been altered somewhat for entertainment value or for practical reasons.
Our take on Seven Samurai’s realism
Historical accuracy is not everything
Any movie has a balance to walk between being realistic and being entertaining, and Seven SamuraiWith a score of seven out of 10, the balance seems to be going quite well. Plus, the reasons it lost some points aren’t likely to be things most audiences will know anyway. yet, Analyzing movies for their historical accuracy is, if nothing else, an interesting way to learn more about history, and also about filmmaking.and its strengths and limitations. Although it may not have earned a perfect realism score, Seven Samurai remains an undeniable classic.
Source: Inside