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The Last Samurai

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The Last Samurai
Katerina Rizova

The Last Samurai

Samurai are a group of powerful warriors that existed in Japan until the late 1800’s. In the film “The Last Samurai” we have the opportunity to learn more about the positive characteristics of them. Samurai is very compassionate and they humbly express that emotion. Perhaps the most important trait of the Samurai, is discipline.
The Last Samurai is a war and drama film, based on a true story depicting honour and courage. Nathan Algren (Tom Cruise) is an American civil war veteran who carries moral scars of his victory against the native Indians. He drowns his guilt in alcohol until his old commander drags him into meeting with Prince Mitsui, a Japanese businessman who offers Algren to train the Japanese government army. At that time Japan was led by Emperor Meiji who had a vision of modern army. He had ideas of improving the performance of the army through the latest fire-weapons and implying war strategies. And this is the moment when the conflict arises since the old Japanese samurai society stands against this rapid transformation. Led by Katsumoto a few hundred samurai, rebel and are ordered to be eliminated. This is when Algren comes to demonstrate the power of the weapons and allow American traders to sell weapons to the upgraded Japanese army to fight against those rebels.
During the first encounter between them, Algren falls and is captured by the enemy. He is then taken to the samurai village up in the mountains where he learns to interact with them, discovers their culture and observes their fighting methods. During his "captivity", a friendship is born between Algren and Katsumoto. They learn to understand each other's cultural discrepancies and adapt to each other's characters. Captain Algren says in the film that Samurai are the most disciplined people he has ever met. Throughout the movie, the Samurai were shown to be extremely polite. They are very polite even to a man who has killed a very close person

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