La vengeance des 47 rônins

Nearly four hours long, this film can task even the most dedicated samurai viewer. It has some really good acting, but that is lost for most in the pace.

It is a tale of the famous Ako Vendetta of 1702. I do not know how historically accurate it is, but it does give a glimpse into Japan's history.

It also gives a glimpse of hara-kiri; the ritual suicide by slicing the stomach until the bowels spill out, then decapitation by a skilled swordsman.

You are better served in seeing director Kenji Mizoguchi in the classic Sansho the Bailiff.

The glacial pace of this film is part of what makes it special. The script/dialogue is dense, and there are seemingly countless characters. Some will find it boring, others, like myself, will like it for that very reason. (Barry Lyndon fans unite.)

It's also a unique window into the grim aspects of samurai culture and how the Imperial government of Japan parleyed and exploited those sentiments into the war effort.

Though stately, impressive, and vaguely powerful at times, it nonetheless demands more patience than this viewer had. It's well filmed, but rather static and aloof. None of this is aided by its nearly 4 hour length.

Yes, the pace is slow, yes the movie is long; especially to our eyes used to modern (?) movie-making of the recent years that knows only two rhythms, ultra-fast and ultra-ultra-fast. Yet the story of those 47 ronins, at least for those of us patient enough to enter it, to let themselves flow into it, is all in all very interesting and says a lot about 18th-century Japan. This movie is remarkably well constructed and acted and while the rhythm is slow, it is also implacable : the good side of having a slow rhythm is that you can eventually accelerate, something that ultra-fast doesn't allow.

But most of all, I notice this : for a film that was supposed to take place into a war-propaganda effort, I do find this tribute to the traditional virtues of the Japanese warrior to be remarkably sober in tone and almost completely devoid of any rhetoric. So, I am not at all surprised to learn that it was a commercial insuccess when it was released in 1941 Japan : for the spirit and inspiration of 'The 47 Ronins' are much too elevated to fit the ultranationalist hysteria of the times.

I saw this film on the big screen when it was screened at a local theatre last summer. Needless to say, I went alone for this 3h40min marathon - I could not coax my wife to come! The "47 Ronin" is an epic film about this legendary Japanese story about how 47 masterless samurai plot to avenge their Lord's death. I won't expand on the plot here, but if you Google the topic or go to Wikipedia, it's a really fascinating story.

That this film is not for everyone is an understatement. It is slow moving, monumentally long and requires a lot of patience. But, the viewer is rewarded with incredibly genuine acting, beautiful and poetically shot scenes, and in the context of when the film was made, a window into WWII-era Japan. Telling to the wartime era this film was made in, the credits at the beginning of each Part give credit to the "Propaganda Department" (English translation).

Also poignant and disturbing, is the very serious and thoughtful portrayal of the Japanese practice of seppuku, or ritual suicide by slicing the stomach until the bowels spill out, then decapitation by a skilled swordsman.

Overall, I'm very glad I saw it - and would recommend it to others interested in this story. It's one of those movies that you only need to see once though.