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| REVIEW: The Last Samurai (movie thread) |
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| jannah |
| 01/05/04 at 03:54:21 |
| [slm] For anyone who watches movies: THE LAST SAMURAI was AMAZING. it was the best movie i've seen in many many years. it's very clean except it's a little gory with all the fighting but the themes and story are really beautiful. i hope a lot of people in the US and other countries see it because there are so many themes i think people can learn from that are important right now... western imperialism, the loss of culture, war, technology used only for killing, civilizations, modesty, honour, values, respect, how to stand up and be a real man ;) etc.... they reminded me of the Muslim armies and leaders of the past... such honour, discipline, standing for principles, high standards coupled with spirituality and prayer |
| 01/05/04 at 03:54:43 |
| jannah |
| Re: REVIEW: The Last Samurai (movie thread) |
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| Sparrow |
| 01/05/04 at 08:17:57 |
| I know we are not suppose to post just to say "I agree!" but I am doing it anyway :) So, I agree! My husband and I saw this the other night and thought it was fantastic. Peace, Sparrow |
| Re: REVIEW: The Last Samurai (movie thread) |
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| tq |
| 01/05/04 at 11:43:03 |
| Assalamo elikuim I have to say I agree with Sr. Jannah. Usually I dont go to theater(kids :)) but my husband got tickets and we went - I was glad that we did :) Through out the movie I was telling my husband that if we replace the the sumarias with any Muslim country or even any small country, it will be soo true. I have recommeded this to everybody I know :) Wasalam tq |
| Re: REVIEW: The Last Samurai (movie thread) |
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| SisterHania |
| 01/05/04 at 14:14:59 |
| Is this the movie with Mr .T. Cruise..........? Is it similar to Gladiator/Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon/Mulan? |
| 01/05/04 at 14:27:40 |
| SisterHania |
| Re: REVIEW: The Last Samurai (movie thread) |
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| jannah |
| 01/05/04 at 14:54:22 |
| [wlm] yup he's in it.. but nothing like i thought he would be.. he is totally in the role and yeah i think it's similar |
| Re: REVIEW: The Last Samurai (movie thread) |
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| merimda |
| 01/06/04 at 02:05:26 |
| Salam <<i hope a lot of people in the US and other countries see it because there are so many themes i think people can learn from that are important right now... western imperialism, the loss of culture, war, technology used only for killing, civilizations, modesty, honour, values, respect, how to stand up and be a real man etc.... they reminded me of the Muslim armies and leaders of the past... such honour, discipline, standing for principles, high standards coupled with spirituality and prayer >> Yeah, I saw this movie with a friend the first week it came out and my thoughts and hers on it were very similar to the above. I'm just going to cut and paste some of my thoughts ( from a politics and history teacher- in -training perspective) about this movie I had sent to a friend (fellow teacher in training): I think it's an excellent resource to use in a history class to explore the concept of imperialism ( and neo-imperialism esp. in the form of 'globalisation') and the process of modernisation past and present(specifically the clash/tension it creates within socities going through the process). It's interesting, because the clash of the Samurai with modernising agents in Japan is parallel to the Ottoman exprience with the Janissaries and the Egyptian experience with the Mamlukes. *** Here I am cutting and pasting a good critique of the movie taken from this review: http://movies.yahoo.com/mvc/dfrv?mid=1808439546&rvid=255-90096&i=0&spl=0&nn=1&ys=M8snbGRyOA1OI_Fe7oIijg-- Then comes the last hour, where the director seems to grow tired of the homage to Japanese film and instead makes an American epic, where characters are trie and static and there is a lot of fighting. Cruise becomes vital to the salvation of the Samurai, as he is needed to support every decision made by Katsumoto and inspire the troops. He becomes the man with the strategy as well as the quips that will restore the courage of the soldiers. Japanese culture becomes represented either by the greedy lords, the soldiers who would mow people down with guns under orders, or the noble warriors trapped in antiquated ideals. The climactic battle results is dramatic slow motion, multiple explosions from cannons that would take minutes to realign, and other footage on loan from Glory. Finally, the last fifteen minutes of the film feel tacked on, as if everything needs some sort of summary and closure. I feel this movie fails the noble ideas of the first half as I feel that, in the end, it does not prevent most of the audience from seeing the way of life of the Samurai as violent and backwards, especially in regards to the ritual seppaku. In the end, American culture is needed for any hope of success, and Japanese culture works best in meditation and not in real life. salam, merimda |
| 01/06/04 at 02:12:05 |
| merimda |
| Re: REVIEW: The Last Samurai (movie thread) |
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| se7en |
| 01/06/04 at 03:02:34 |
| as salaamu alaykum, I thought the movie was awesome.. things I liked: -- the american finding redemption when spending time with people who were not focused on the material, but the spiritual. intoxicated, aimless, haunted by a sinful past.. he finds purpose, meaning, beauty, and a sense of inner peace in the company of people of uprightness and spirit. -- how the american's immersion in both way of life shows the civility of 'savage' cultures and the savagery of 'civilized' cultures. -- showing that the samurai were in the right, while the governing body was in the wrong for selling out to western forces. the samurai, in our day and time, would be labeled 'terrorists' or 'unpatriotic', and the like. -- showing the devastating effect of western hegemony on the world, its demonization and destruction of many beautiful traditions and people. I only hope, like jannah said, that people can extend this idea to what is happening in the world today. -- the depiction of rijaal - their nobility, honor, strength, discipline, deep sense of spirituality and introspection, quietness and stillness, sense of justice and valour.. this translates across culture. these are *men*. -- the romantic sub-plot - that it stayed true to the tone of the film, characterized by an innocence, sense of modesty, quietness, depth.. -- the imagery.. striking, emotive, beautiful "to know life in every breath" "no mind" "I think a man does what he can.. until his destiny is revealed" "all of them are perfect" *sigh* good stuff.. |
| 01/06/04 at 05:55:32 |
| se7en |
| Re: REVIEW: The Last Samurai (movie thread) |
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| Kathy |
| 01/06/04 at 09:38:07 |
| [slm] I see it is rated R. Can Ali, the karate kid, see it? |
| Re: REVIEW: The Last Samurai (movie thread) |
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| jannah |
| 01/06/04 at 10:13:11 |
| [wlm] No it is extremely gory with a lot of violence. That's why it is rated R. Sorry but best thing is to wait till it's on TV where they might edit a lot of it or wait till he turns 17, whichever happens first ;) Plus I don't think kids would understand the depth of it. They would just see good versus evil and battle scenes with a lot of gore. Maybe he's outgrowing the Muslim cartoons for kids? Did he like Muslim Scouts? I think it would be better if he read adventurous books with good heros like Invincible Abdullah.. or historical type books about men like Salahuddin etc. That way he is firmly grounded in love for righteous 'real men' of the past. They have some 'middle school' age type books on muslim history out now that looked pretty nice too. |
| Re: REVIEW: The Last Samurai (movie thread) |
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| Matheerah |
| 01/06/04 at 17:37:41 |
| I havn't seen it, but i want to, i heard its realy good 8) |
| Re: REVIEW: The Last Samurai (movie thread) |
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| Kathy |
| 01/07/04 at 09:46:38 |
| [slm] Yes you are right Jannah. This year I have started teaching him...and me... about the Sahabah and others like Salahuddin. It is absolutely one of the benefits of starting the library at the masjid! Books that were unreachable by us are now surrounding us. Alhumdullillah. Those are good words of advice... "That way he is firmly grounded in love for righteous 'real men' of the past. " This is a good example of why this message board works. While this post could have taken another turn, it didn't. Instead I got, and I am sure others, some very good advice. ' ...it is good to be around Muslims... they remind each other.' Yes, Jazak Allahu Khirun, he really enjoys it.... please note I did not say enjoyed! Someone just donated the first 1 at the library and it hasn't stayed on the shelf long enough for Ali to get it! |
| Re: REVIEW: The Last Samurai (movie thread) |
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| siddiqui |
| 01/12/04 at 20:03:30 |
| [slm] I agree with Sr Jannah for once :P LS was an awesome movie though I think Mr T was no great shakes ;) Credit should go to Ken Watnabe for potraying all those emotions with his eyes rather than words he surely deserves an Oscar for it [wlm] |
| Re: REVIEW: The Last Samurai (movie thread) |
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| Mossy |
| 02/10/04 at 04:23:31 |
| Salams, As someone with a deep interest in Japanese culture as well as oriental philosophy, I thought it was reasonable, but did have a number of issues with it, which I won't go into now.. Tom Cruise's character should have died for a start. And the hollywood ending.. Sigh. Oh dear, I'm meant to have written an article on this. Eep. The unity of purpose in the bushido code - living life for but one purpose is most definately that which resonates most with muslims. The themes of rejection of the materialist/consumerist hegenomy which was slowly encroaching upon the simple and somewhat ascetic lifestyle of that time also has it's appeal. Of course, in reality the time of the Meiji dynasty saw the samurai becoming opulent and corrupt and the Emperor deciding the other way, but meh.. Good fight choreography. I'll deal with it in full when I finish my review.. Sigh. For those who want to see the epitome of Samurai movie making, I would recommend Kurosawa's masterpiece Shichinin no Samurai (Seven samurai) or Yoji Yamada's more recent Tasogare Seibei (The Twilight Warrior). |
| Re: REVIEW: The Last Samurai (movie thread) |
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| lucid9 |
| 02/10/04 at 10:31:22 |
| [slm] i was pretty nervous about seeing it. if you've seen the trailers it looks pretty much like one of those....uh oh...if mom finds out she gonna belt me..(figuratively speaking) but it was surprisingly very clean except for the one part where taka pulls of cruise's robe...i don't know what happened...i looked away... however, the last part where cruise bows to the emporer and offers to committ hari kari at his behest seemed a bit too farfetched and left me cringing... however i gotta say one thing: it pumped the samurai up too much...romananticed about them too much. lots of em were just plain killers and folks which study war all their life ain't too cool to me.... also this is one of those new hollywoodesque movies romanticisizing the far east, buddhism and all these new zen culture. folks thing it so soo cool, and soo peaceful... but is it really? I don't know. however, i do know that they would never make such a movie about muslims... anyhow, not meaning to diss everybody who loved. i liked it to. maybe it's just that i don't like tom cruise... i don't know. |
| Re: REVIEW: The Last Samurai (movie thread) |
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| gift |
| 02/11/04 at 04:09:15 |
| [slm] My brother, sister and I watched this on Eid - and it was brilliant. Parts of the film were very poignant :'( - it also reminded us of the Muslim armies of the past.. [quote author=hyper link=board=kabob;num=1073292861;start=10#13 date=02/10/04 at 10:31:22] but it was surprisingly very clean except for the one part where taka pulls of cruise's robe...i don't know what happened...i looked away...[/quote] Nothing happened bro - it was all done with a sense of modesty - Taka dresses Aldrige in the robes and armor of her husband - you don't see anything. [wlm] |
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