History Buffs: The Last Samurai

[Music] [Applause] so [Music] [Music] okay in all seriousness this is a fantastic movie covering a period in history that i don't think gets as much attention as it should this is the story about captain nathan algren a retired american officer who was hired by the japanese to train their army to quell a samurai rebellion over the course of the film however it begins to admire the samurai and their cause eventually switching sides to fight for them but really this is a film about the meiji restoration of the 19th century and how one way of life that endured for hundreds of years was coming to an end and how japan's rebirth into the modern era was about to begin this is the last samurai [Music] by the mid 19th century whilst the rest of the world was playing the game of empires and changing under the industrial revolution japan was still a feudal society this is because when the tokugawa shogunate seized power in 1603 they cut off all trades of the outside world and had any foreigner who landed on their shores instantly put to death this policy of self-isolation was put into place for fear that foreign influence would destabilize the country until just recently japan had been engulfed in a series of bloody civil wars fought by hundreds of future lords called daimyo serving each daimyo were an elite class of warriors known as the samurai like the medieval knights of europe they too were bound by a code of ethics similar to chivalry known as bushido for over a century the samurai battled each other in a never-ending power struggle for their daimyo in order to claim the ultimate title of shogun the most powerful of all dino the military dictator and ruler of all japan it wasn't until tokugawa iayasu proclaimed himself as shogun did the country finally know peace and was unified as one nation but there was a genuine fear that outside influence could very well challenge the balance of power after suppressing a bloody christian uprising in 1638 the tokugawa shogunate imposed a self-isolationist policy called sakoku that forbade any foreigner to enter japan or any japanese to leave it so for over 200 years japan became an island frozen in time it was still very much the same feudal society ruled by the shogun and the samurai since the 17th century but all of this would come crashing down when on july 2nd 1853 four black ships were spotted off the coast heading directly to ido bay it was an expedition sent by the united states to end japan self-isolation and leading it was matthew perry what i didn't even know that why didn't you tell me no not that matthew perry commodore matthew perry his mission was to force japan to open its ports at all costs and he landed on ido bay presenting the japanese and ultimatum either to open their country up for trade or the united states would take their country by force matthew perry gave them a year to decide before leaving promising to return with even more ships now i can't even imagine the shock and panic that gripped japan they had never seen such ships before i mean it would be like the equivalent of that scene in independence day with the alien spaceships float over the white house now what do we do address the nation there's gonna be a lot of frightening people out there yeah i'm one of them true to his word matthew perry returned on the 13th of february 1854 this time with 10 ships the japanese then had really only two options to make the first was to go for war which i'm sure there were plenty of samurai leaning in that direction or accept humiliating demands which is of course the smart choice and that's exactly what they did in fact they even took it a step further as much as they resented the americans asserting their dominance their technological advances certainly impressed the japanese they knew that in order to survive in this age of western imperialism they would have to modernize and fast their speed and efficiency in doing so cannot be understated hiring thousands of experts from europe and north america to advise and teach japan was able to achieve nearly 300 years of western technological advancement in just over 20 years this included railroads modern army and navy factories and telegraph lines they even adopted western clothing clearly stating that japan was a modern nation equal in power and stature to the west but in order to do so they had to completely change their political structure from top to bottom the samurai were now becoming more and more obsolete by these reforms and were no longer the top class they had once been by 1876 when the movie begins more and more of their privileges were being stripped away as they were now not really needed in this new japan attention to running high as the samurai believed that the country was changing too fast and war for the very soul of japan was about to begin now you would have to be really stubborn not to see the similarities with the last samurai and dancers with wolves it's practically the same story an outsider from an aggressive militarily expansionist civilization mingles with the technologically inferior indigenous population and grows to love them even fight for them it'd be easy to stand up and shout ripoff due to themes in the story it's trying to tell about the last days of a native people its great writing though goes a long way to get the audience to sympathize and feel a really high stake of jeopardy lurking over our characters unlike that one other really overrated movie so what they're going to kill a bunch of smurfs in this one spot in the jungle they have a whole planet to contend with i'm sure there's more of them that doesn't make sense so anyway our main protagonist of the film is captain nathan algrin who is an american advisor paid by the japanese to train its new model army in modern warfare he is loosely based on french captain jule brunette who trained and fought with the shogun in the boshin war seven years earlier but you might as well not need to know that because in actual fact orgrin's a totally different character by this point but written in a bit more of a believable way as much as i love dancing with wolves even i have to admit that these types of films tend to follow a certain movie trope which i like to call the white savior complex that's basically when a native people face annihilation and a white man comes in to save the day with his awesome power of being white but we don't get that with the last samurai nathan algrin is simply witnessing a moment in history but is unable to shape it the inevitability of the samurai's demise later in the film is clearest to him because he understands the futility of their situation in facing off against a modern army this is drawing from his own experiences when he fought against another native people the emperor is the most interested in your american indians if you have fought against them in battle we have your highness the red man is a brutal adversary sono the emperor wishes to ask captain organ if it is true they wear eagle feathers and paint their faces before going into battle and that they have no fear they're very brave it's quite hard not to draw parallels between the native americans and the samurai they're both an ancient people with a deep rich culture and unfortunately stood in the way of imperialism and industrialization this is not lost on orgrin as he feels a real sense of deja vu in his new assignment i have been hired to help suppress the rebellion of yet another tribal leader apparently this is the only job for which i am suited i am beset by the ironies of my life what i especially like about this character is that he's a lost soul without a people to call his own clearly tormented by guilt due to his past throughout the movie we see him on a path of self-destruction smothering his nightmares with alcohol abuse this is a punitive expedition captain colonel bagley these people had nothing to do with the raids quietly now boys [Music] [Music] uh when orgrim gets captured by the samurai the film makes it clear that this is a character who wants to die and sees no chance of redemption for the crimes he has committed due to his imprisonment however he is denied his usual supply of steady boos and he aggresses in a state of detox unable to ignore the screams of the dead finally overcoming his alcohol addiction he is free to walk amongst the samurai versus an outsider but gradually over time he begins to respect them in their way of life finding something in them that had all been but lost to him everyone is polite everyone smiles and bows but beneath that courtesy i detect a deep reservoir of feeling they are an intriguing people from the moment they wake they devote themselves to the perfection of whatever they pursue i have never seen such discipline these little moments truly are the heart of the film bit by bit as the movie slowly progresses we can really see the journey of orgrin's character arc and even understand what it is about the samurai he finds so attractive the friendships he makes between katsumoto and the other samurai feel real and heartfelt when he makes that ultimate decision in the end to fight for their cause even though he knows that there is no chance of them surviving so it makes sense why organ would want to switch sides in the first place and at least he did it for a noble cause unlike jake sully whose reason to doing so seemed to be primarily motivated out of his curiosity and interspecies erotica [Music] whilst nathan algrin is a completely made-up character katsumoto is heavily based on the real samurai rebel leader saiko takamori like katsumoto he also believed that japan was changing too fast but he was not completely against modernization he understood the potential dangers the western powers could inflict in japan for not doing so so saigo backed up many of the social and political reforms that were going on and helped to overthrow the shogun in the boshin war placing emperor meiji as the central figurehead in the japanese government one of the biggest reforms he supported actually was the modernization of the japanese army there are actually many pictures that could be found of saiko takamori wearing a western uniform unlike his film counterpart katsumoto saigo had no problem whatsoever with using guns and when he didn't use them it was not for the stupid reason that the film states who supplies their weapons katsumoto no longer dishonest himself by using firearms you see he uses no firearms you see through those are one of the old ways katsumoto is a hero he's also an idiot i'm sorry but if katsumoto doesn't see the advantages in using projectile weapons then he really is an idiot historically speaking the samurai were never stupid enough to scoff at the idea of using guns well at least the ones who survived dishonorable to use guns the samurai had been used to shooting each other for 300 years so what the [ __ ] is he talking about because saiko takamori had no problem using guns whatsoever he outfitted the samurai rebels with guns and cannons only to later fall back on conventional samurai weaponry when he ran out of ammunition now of course one of the biggest differences between the character of katsumoto and saigo were their reasons for rebelling against the imperial government in the first place for example with katsumoto his cause is highly romanticized in the movie portrayed to be an actual service to an emperor who is really being manipulated by ambitious men like amura blind to what is actually going on where the samurai are being targeted by the government almost like an ethnic group to be ostracized and humiliated in public the banning of the samurai's right to carry their swords was the final straw due to their cultural and spiritual significance now whilst a lot of this is true the samurai were really just fighting to protect the status of their class and their privileges such as exemption from taxation the right to kill a commoner they were given disrespect and being the only ones allowed to fight for hundreds of years the samurai had been used to being the top dogs in japanese society but now they were no longer really needed in this day and age so it was only in the face of their classes abolition did they rise up however not all samurai resisted such change during the 200 years of self-isolation japan had enjoyed a long reign of peace and prosperity peace and prosperity is wonderful and all for the common man but it wasn't all that great for the samurai the warrior class had no wars to fight and the status of their class forbade them from taking any other form of employment because it was considered beneath them and i'm sure many resented the fact that whilst their form of income was fixed the absolute bottom class the merchants started earning more money than them so these social reforms actually provided many samurai a way out of their classes restrictions allowing them to work as merchants government officials to serve in the armed forces and etc so the film's titled the last samurai is a tiny bit misleading as many of the politicians and officers who fought against the samurai were also samurai well the general and katsumoto fought together for the emperor he fought with the samurai he is samurai now i must stress that as much as i love the last samurai i have to let you know that you cannot take it too seriously within its historical context for example one painfully inaccurate scene is the fog battle apart from the fact that it probably didn't happen its portrayal of the capability of the imperial army by 1876 is completely ridiculous the imperial army had already been tried and tested during the boshin war yet in the movie they are completely inexperienced and can't shoot for [ __ ] giving the impression that this is the first time this modern army has ever fought against the samurai which just isn't true our men are running from the battlefield a shameful display however i do understand why it's in the movie it obviously wants to show how formidable the samurai warriors were even though saigo takamori actually lost every single battle he fought but the film's main objective is not to present an accurate portrayal of the satsuma rebellion but to give a small insight into samurai society in its last days of glory olgren is not only a great character but is also a great narrative tool in the story allowing the audience to see the simple lives of the samurai through his eyes and the painful transitional period between feudal and imperial japan the final moments of the last battle in the film not only is very close to what happens in real life but is also the perfect metaphor marking the end of one japan and the beginning of another how a class of ancient warriors that ruled japanese society for hundreds of years was cut down by the industrial age years of training and skill with the sword and bow cast aside for the efficiency of mass-produced weapons of war it's an incredibly powerful scene and truly captures the spirit of the samurai [Music] choosing to go out on their own terms rather than fade away from the pages of history to die with honor rather than live without purpose their sacrifice for what they believed in struck such a chord the japanese society that emperor meiji posthumously pardoned psyko takamori and he became a national hero the imperial government quickly revived elements of bushido and adopted it to become japan's new nationalist moral code honor duty loyalty to the emperor and self-sacrifice were all attributes to the samurai that would endure well into the 20th century well that about wraps it up my name is nick hodges and thanks for watching history buffs and remember if you like the show help the channel grow don't forget to hit that like and subscribe button and let me know in the comment section what you thought about the last samurai and of course what historical movie should i review next until then i'll see you next time [Music] you

Channel: History Buffs

Views: 4,090,728

Rating: 4.8628044 out of 5

Keywords: The Last Samurai (Award-Winning Work), History Buffs, Historically accurate, Historically Inacurate, Meiji Restoration, Satsuma Rebellion, History (TV Genre), Samurai (Profession)

Id: -buQSp6wOMc

Length: 21min 4sec (1264 seconds)

Published: Sat Aug 29 2015

Reddit Comments

[u/DogbertCA]

Big fan of this channel after finding his video on the film Waterloo.

[u/Garrth415]

I love this channel, watched all his videos after seeing a post about him r/all . I got a pretty good laugh out of that moment

[u/[deleted]]

I chuckled.

[u/inspektor71]

Pretty funny, but with this being The Last Samurai and all, wouldn't the "Damned lily-livered cowards!" line be more appropriate?

[u/[deleted]]

I love how every Youtube review of The Last Samurai is always in favour of the Samurai. If he calls himself a history buff, he should know that the majority of the Japanese population were quite happy with the new advancements in technology, and how society became far more equal as it transitioned from a feudal world (peasants had no rights save to serve their Daimyo) to a modern one (everyone could be someone).

Edit: Damn, I guess y'all don't want to hear a second opinion or something.

[u/[deleted]]

when they gonna nerf the gatling gun?

[u/Teh_Naacal]

I just can't stop watching his videos until every single bloody fact is bored into my head.

EDIT: You made me watch the Waterloo video for the 7th time.

[u/DukeofKent91]

They also use some of the artwork from Rome II in the Gladiator one as well!

It is a really good series for anyone who hasn't watched these!

[u/TimMH1]

A good laugh.