Heaven and Earth

I had the opportunity to be an extra in this movie. It was an incredible way to spend the summer of 1989. Hours of sitting on a horse in the hot Alberta sun in the river valley near Morley. Most of the horses that were used came from the Morley Indian reservation and some were barely broken in at all. The scenery was as good as it gets with the Rocky Mountains as a backdrop and the Bow River flowing nearby. The food provided could have been a lot better but that was a minor thing compared to the magnitude of this production. Watching it for the first time on the big screen was phenomenal. It's hard to believe that it would be such a magnificent movie when you're hot, sweating and dusty in 90 degree temperatures, and that's basically all you see for the whole summer. What a glorious time it was!! I've been wanting to buy a copy for myself and never even thought of Ebay until seeing the other posts on here. Us extras should have a reunion sometime!!

I happened to get a chance to see Ten To Chi To or Heaven And Earth, as we knew it here, on the big screen when it debuted in Calgary in the spring of 1990. After having worked many long hours on the movie for a good part of the late summer in 1989 as one of the 2000 Samurai infantry extras, it was amazing to see the finished product on the big screen. As mentioned in one of the earlier reviews, for fans of the Samurai movie genre, this is a must see. The large battle scenes are spectacular.

Trivia note. Actor Ken Watanabe was originally cast as one of the lead actors in Heaven and Earth. While filming Ken was diagnosed with acute myelogenic leukemia, a life-threatening disease of the bone marrow, that put an end to his part in the movie. Ken had to return to Japan for treatment that kept him away acting for a few years. He came back in 1994 only to have a relapse, but once again battled back. Ken has been nominated for Best Actor in a supporting role at this year's Academy Awards for his outstanding performance as Katsumoto in The Last Samurai. I wish him all the best!

BTW, I was one of a handful of extras who worked all through the filming from July to early Sepetebmber 1989, here in Alberta. During the last few days of filming there was only about 50 or so of us left. On the final day, final scene, a Saturday afternoon IIRC, some production people came around and handed each of us a cold beer. Director Haruki Kadokawa came out and toasted us. He smiled and said, "Very long. Very hard. Thank you!"

This movie has been one that I've been searching for years. It has left that kind of impression on me. The story and historical value of this movie has allowed me to visualize a better understanding of those feudal times.

The only problem is that I'm still searching to obtain a copy. If you have any ideas where to look, it would be greatly appreciated.

This movie has great battle scenes--large, intense and seemingly real. The clash between the red and black colored armies is a visual treat. The problem is that for as great as these scenes are, the film lags greatly on the personal level. The dialog just seems as if it is being filmed at a great emotional distance--and OFTEN, the scenes are actually filmed at a pretty great physical distance. If the movie could have been re-edited with new writing and direction for the non-spectacular scenes, it might achieve greatness. Otherwise, it just seems a little too cold and distant to become engaging. In this sense, it looks, at times, more like a documentary on the History Channel more than a film about PEOPLE and events.

Having just watched this movie on a whim I was quite impressed with the scope and choreography it must have taken to organize the battle scenes, which are of course tremendously filmed. I am however a prototypical american, and it's nice to see a little blood in battle scenes. I was often thinking while watching about the battle scenes in Braveheart. I wouldn't say that need necessarily be that bloody, but a war without blood seems to miss the point of war. Nothing in this movie looked painful. War just looked like a game of people riding horses in different directions.

I found the non battle scenes in the movie to be a nice balance though the charecters could have been worked on.....why are Kagetora and Nami in love???? What reason? Because she's there?

If this review is coming off negative then I'm not making myself clear. I did enjoy the film and have very little knowlege of 17th century Japan so as not to know of any historical flaws. I find it a bit amusing that it was filmed in Canada....donuts anyone, eh? But all in all pretty much any movie is cool if it has one samurai. When you have five or six hundred you're in for a good movie. I'd recommend this to people who hate black and white too much to sit through the three and a half hours of the Seven Samurai. 8/10