If you feel like immersing yourself in a historical era, you should watch TV tonight. Tom Cruise appears in Last Samurai. A film that not only impresses with its equipment and crowd scenes, but was also harshly criticized when it was released.
What is Last Samurai about?
Tom Cruise takes on the role of the troubled and alcohol-addicted ex-US soldier Nathan Algren. In the 1870s he received the lucrative contract, to train the emperor’s army in Japan. He accepts, but is soon captured there by rebelling samurai.
Over time, the soldier becomes friends with samurai Katsumoto (Ken Watanabe) and his family, falls in love and becomes increasingly fascinated by the culture of Japan. Algren learns the way of the samurai himself, trains in martial arts and ultimately even joins the rebellion. In some cases he can actually help his former enemies.
Ultimately, however, disaster takes its course: The The samurai rebellion has no chance against the emperor’s numerically superior troops, which are also equipped with modern firearms.
This is why Last Samurai was so heavily criticized at the time
A discussion has developed around Last Samurai that surrounds many films of this type: on the one hand, the film is based on historical events, but on the other hand, it is transporting countless errors, clichés and inaccuracies (via: NY Times).
There was also a heated debate about whether we were dealing with a racist, naive film that romanticized the “noble savages.” In line with this, there are also reviews that accuse Last Samurai of having a white savior narrative: the work makes it seem as if Japan would never have emerged from its feudal period without Tom Cruise (via: Daily Beast).
But there are also positive voices: Last Samurai was received quite positively by critics in Japan and better than in the USA, for example. At least the film was a significant improvement on previous depictions of Japan. Ken Watanabe even credits Last Samurai with being something of a turning point for Asian representation in Hollywood.
TV or stream: When and where is Last Samurai showing?
RTL2 Last Samurai is broadcasting this Saturday November 9th in primetime at 8:15 p.m out of.
If you can’t watch it at this time, you have the option of buying and renting the film online as VoD from Magenta TV, Amazon Prime, Maxdome or Google Play.
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This article first appeared in a modified form in December 2023.