All language subtitles for Seven Samurai - Origins and Influences_Track03_en

Loyalty, duty,
responsibility, and honor —

these were things
that Kurosawa valued very much.

I think Kurosawa really liked
such motifs or themes.

The Japanese love
this kind of idea.

So Seven Samurai

Is a very famous film in Japan.

Samurai can be defined

as soldiers or warriors,

or the class of such people
in Japan's feudal period.

As a class, they probably made up
about five percent of the population.

Loyalty forms the great core
of samurai ethics.

That is, loyalty to one's lord.

There are other virtues too,
such as bravery, honor,

allegiance to the code,
and rigorous training.

In other words, most of the qualities
required of soldiers

were all found in samurai.

Also, a samurai's sense of responsibility
was of an extraordinary kind.

Bushido is an ideology
encompassing all these elements.

Why the morals of
that five-percent population of samurai

became particularly important
to the Japanese

was because
about 150 years ago,

when Japan gave up
its isolationist policy,

the Japanese, who had been
in the dark until then,

discovered that most of Asia had been
colonized by Western nations,

and they feared
Japan might be next.

Then, for about
the following 100 years,

Japan strove
to become strong as a nation.

Those in power pressured people
to adopt samurai ethics,

and the people themselves believed
they needed to become like samurai

fo prevent Japan
from being colonized.

They shifted
their loyalty to the nation.

This displaced loyalty was renounced
after Japan's defeat in the war.

Yet though it was renounced,

it remained in an altered form:
as loyalty to one's company.

So in that sense, it could be said
that the Japanese tendency

to identify with the samurai
still thrives today.

Among Japan's popular stories,

an overwhelming majority
were heroic tales about samurai,

and these tales were exciting.

They essentially depicted
a strong man of will and discipline

who becomes ruler of Japan
through his heroic exploits.

Peasants
as well as town dwellers

read such stories
as popular entertainment,

so their influence
was quite profound.

Each of the 47 ronin
has his own unique qualities,

and when these men come together,
they become one great force.

These men of widely differing
characters are brought together

for a common goal by, of course,
their sense of duty or loyalty.

But a sense of humor
also binds them as a group.

A sense of obligation and human
feelings come into play as well.

These men also recognize
each other's good qualities.

The Japanese love
these kinds of ideas.

Since ronin have no lord,
at least for the time being,

they have freedom,
even If they're not well-off.

And men who are free
make better heroes.

It's not that
Japan's movie fans liked outlaws,

but rather that proper samurai
led very boring lives,

so they didn't make
good movie subjects.

The men in Seven Samurai
are all ronin.

In fact, Kurosawa's jidaigeki films
are mostly about ronin.

There were many films around 1930
portraying samurai as rebels,

because that was a time

when Japan's left-wing ideology
reached one of its prewar peaks.

Frustration and criticism

directed at Japanese society
of that period,

If depicted in a modern-day setting,
would be censored.

These films could escape censorship

by shifting the setting fo the past.

Generally, a great deal of criticism

of the feudal period

is found
in jidaigeki masterpieces.

Japan's defeat in the war
marked an important turning point

for samurai movies.

During the American occupation,
film projects had fo be approved

by the occupation forces.

And although bushido presents
an idealized picture of samurai,

neither bushido nor samurai
are compatible with democracy.

Because according to bushido,
it's deemed acceplable,

when necessary,
fo sacrifice one's wife or child

to comply with
the command of one's lord.

That went against democratic ideas,
and bushido lost its prestige.

The story of the 47 ronin

used to be made into a movie
several times every year.

But making films about the 47 ronin
was forbidden during the occupation.

This was because
the story of the 47 ronin

depicts not only
their loyalty to their lord

but also their rebellion
against the enemy

who demanded that
their lord commit harakiri.

Since this kind of film was
directly connected to nationalism,

American occupation forces
prohibited depicting such a theme.

To find a way
to work within that system,

various aspects of feudalism
were depicted critically

by presenting samurarl
who realized feudalism's flaws.

So very samurai-like characters
were not portrayed in films of this period.

Then a great revival
of samurai movies occurred

from the 1950s fo the 1960s.

This period was
the golden age of samurai films.

Kurosawa's debut film was called
Sanshiro Sugata

and was set in the period
after the demise of the samurai class,

but it depicts the story
of a young man

who tries to live his life
while maintaining a samurai-like spirit.

So Sanshiro Sugata
is not a movie about samurai,

but it could be considered
a samurai film.

The film is typical
of entertainment films of the time.

But while making
a typical entertainment film,

the way Kurosawa reinterpreted it
displayed his brilliance.

So Kurosawa started out
as a film craftsman

who set out to make
battle scenes look exciting

and portray a samurai-like
young man falling in love.

With this kind of characterization,

Kurosawa wanted to make
exciting action movies

that featured interesting interactions
between very human characters.

So when he depicted
samurai in his films,

that was his approach.

He himself acknowledged

that there were quite a few
foreign films that attempted this,

So they were models for his films.

For example,
Kurosawa loved John Ford's films

and used to cite Ford
as an influence on his work.

Ford's influences would be
great action scenes, of course,

and also a wonderfully rendered
composition of each shot.

Then there's also
the friendship between men.

When friendships
and rivalries intertwine,

this indescribable
kind of machismo emerges.

This is a particularly
common characteristic.

The most important samurai film
of the postwar period

was Kurosawa's Seven Samurar.

Its importance lies
first of all in the fact

that the theme of loyalty
to one's lord is absent.

I believe Kurosawa himself felt

that bushido should
be defined in a new way,

away from the original idea
of loyalty for one's lord

fo fighting for the good
of the people.

Kurosawa's ambition
was to completely change

the traditional style
of samurai films.

Gorobei!

We'll return
when that barley's ripe!

I think talking...

is a good thing.

Whatever your burden may be,
talking can ease it.

We're letting one in!

But tell me this:
Who turned them into such monsters?

You did!
You samurai did!

The victory belongs
to those peasants.

Not to us.

Being defeated in the war
shocked the Japanese,

and the soul-searching
began immediately.

And the easiest way
fo do that

was to reject
anything related to samurai,

because what samurai stood for
conflicted with democracy.

So there was strong sentiment
against all things related to samurai.

But by rejecting everything
related to samurai,

things such as honor and responsibility
could get cast aside as well.

A sense of alarm that the Japanese
might all become corrupt

if all those good qualities related
fo samural were cast aside

gradually emerged
in the postwar period, I think.

Kurosawa's films showed that some
samurai qualities should not be rejected.

That is, it was necessary
to apply oneself

with a sense
of responsibility and honor.

And the things in bushido
that can be made use of

are a sense of responsibility
and a spirit of self-sacrifice.