Samurai Rebellion (1967)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ½

Samurai Rebellion (1967) – M. Kobayashi

Set in the early 18^th century (Edo era), Kobayashi’s taut and elegant tragedy tells of a conflict between a vassal samurai (Toshiro Mifune) and his lord (and the institutional bureaucracy around that lord).  It is a tale of injustice met with resistance, showing that resistance is empowering.  The plot is carefully laid out:  a member of the lord’s escort (Mifune) seeks a bride for his eldest son and the lord, dissatisfied with his key mistress (who has borne him a second son), decides that Mifune’s son must marry his mistress (a punishment for her).  Mifune attempts to refuse but his son yields.  Later, when the lord’s eldest son dies of illness, the lord wishes to recall his former mistress (mother of his heir) who is now happily married to Mifune’s son.  This is the final straw for Mifune who has lived in a loveless marriage himself and sees that his son has found the familial joy that was denied to him.  Samurai rebellion!  Kobayashi uses the widescreen to maximum advantage, trapping the characters in geometric designs formed from the formal structures and settings of old Japan.  The black and white images are carefully balanced (or imbalanced) for a special sort of pictorial pleasure.  Yet the film feels sparse and the tension builds gradually but ever so distinctly, as with the turn of a screw, until final violence breaks out in true chambara style (there is a subplot featuring Mifune’s friendship with Tatsuya Nakadai that allows a final duel, necessary for the genre). The ending is realistically downbeat – can the powerless ever really overcome the forces against them?  But Mifune’s efforts are heralded; he never felt so alive as when fighting for justice. A classic with a deeper resonance/relevance.