The Last Samurai

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Author Message   Madame X Rating: N/A Votes: 0 (Vote!) Posted on Monday, January 05, 2004 - 09:42 pm:        Okay - I had to go see TLS w/my kid - school project -- so here we go - white man is big war hero in the states (meaning - kills plenty of savages (Native Americans)Japenese needs someone to kill off their savages (traditional japenese warriors who don't want to see their country fall under european/chinese rule) White man trains japenese farmers to fight - they loose horribly - white man (who is haundted by his murderous crimes against the Indian) is taken prisoner by Samurai - realizes that the "so-called" savages are more humane than there suit and tie bretheren - white man has a change of heart - decides "white" is not always right - and ends up fighting alongside the Samurai --- now could this movie have worked with a "brother" ??? Why doesnt hollywood see "us" in these types of roles/films? **by the by -- I like this movie the first time they made it when it was called: Dances with Wolves***   yukio Rating: N/A Votes: 0 (Vote!) Posted on Tuesday, January 06, 2004 - 02:06 am:        hahahahahahahahahaha...good points! I loved this movie. I also saw dances with wolves, though i was younger and didn't appreciate the significance then. Also, Dances with Wolves, as i remember, wasn't about the termination of a historical and cultural moment. TLS remined me of achebe's things fall apart, though there was no liberal white man fighting on the behalf of africans. It was also interesting because the Japanese went to the white Barbarians, not the french or british, because Americans were considered less civilized. Finally, it was a civil war, rather than purely white vs. savage, though whites were represented by their weapons and military officers. Anyway, i don't think this(or this kind) movie could have worked with a black man. The basic formula, as you laid out is, sentimental white man fights on the behalf of savages. Now, if we get rid of white man, we can replace it with exploiter....black folk have only exploited themselves, especially their women. Hmmmmm....Compare Denzel's Fisher with Sean COnnery's Finding Forrester....quite similar stories...both young black men, but their mentors were different.... both great stories, though i liked forrester better because it was literature and life.