![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Feb. 10th, 2004
It's really difficult to watch a 1950's Japanese movie without understanding the culture or the state of film making at the time. I have to trust people that say that this is some of the best film of its day, especially during the boring parts. It's also very confusing not understanding all the Samurai cultural stuff: why are people afraid of them? Are they just afraid of military people or are Samurai renegades or what? Or are farmers just afraid of everyone?
What really doesn't translate is the humor. A lot of times I found myself going back to a scene because I realized, "oh, that was supposed to be funny!" but I didn't get that the first time because of a cultural barrier.
I've wanted to see The Hidden Fortress since I was about 10 years old and heard that Lucas was inspired by it when he created Star Wars. The DVD has an 8-minute interview with Lucas about how Kurosawa influenced him. It was quite interesting. While the plot for Star Wars is nothing like The Hidden Fortress, you can definitely see similarities in the camera work and some of the characters.
Both of these films have been re-made by western directors. The Seven Samurai was remade as "The Magnificent Seven" (1960) and John Ford's Stagecoach borrows heavily from The Hidden Fortress.
All in all, I enjoyed both. I think I liked The Hidden Fortress a little better, but mostly because I understood the humor: I knew the 2 main characters were supposed to be fools... everything they do is supposed to be funny. So, when they are cower in fear at something stupid, it's supposed to be funny. I can dig it. If I didn't understand that, it would have been a painful movie to watch. It would be like watching The Three Stooges after being told it was a crime drama.
Two thumbs up!