Vendetta for a Samurai (1952)

 Kazuo Mori's "Vendetta for a Samurai"


Although I had lots of trouble with "Vendetta for a Samurai," I still respect some of the things it is attempting to accomplish. The film begins by expressing the nature of folklore and legend and how these timeless stories can be embellished in favor of drama. Often, the reality of a story doesn't always effectively translate the intensity or impact of what happened. However, in this Akira Kurosawa-penned film, the quick 2 minute folktale gets told in-length. In telling the entire story in-length, we see all the mundane and complex details of such an event. While this may not be as exciting, it certainly shows how complex a situation actually is and how the humans involved are more complex than simple two-dimensional characters. The 'brave heroes' are not exactly brave and experience doubt, fear, and anxiety. The fighting isn't epic, it's messy, awkward, and tragic. The people that died aren't worthy of vengeance, they're humans who are trapped by their circumstances. Although "Vendetta for a Samurai" left me a little bored and uninterested, its thematic notion regarding how story and drama can be manipulated to leave out more engaging notions of the human elements involved filled me with some respect for it.



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