Guest pressureworld Posted June 6, 2007 Share Posted June 6, 2007 Genre:Samurai Title: Shinsengumi: Assassins of Honor (1969) Director:Tadashi Sawashima Cast:Kinya Kitaoji,Keiju Kobayashi,Toshiro Mifune,Rentaro Mikuni,Kozuo Yamdada,Masaru Sato If life is a series of choices Isami Kondo and the Shinsengumi made all the wrong ones. This review has some slight spoilers they won't kill you The first thing that has to be understood while watching this film is The Emperor and the Shogun were at war because of the opening of Japan to the west 1863-1868 the old way of life represented the Shogun vs the future, which was the Emperor, who understood knowledge from the west was critical to japan's survival. It took unequal treaties from the west for eyes to open in a country were changes were slow. This film is seen through the eyes of Isami Kondo (Mifune) a country dojo instructor who becomes one of the original Shinsengumi (farmers and ronin who fought to protect and secure the Shogunate) and later it's sole leader. The film shows the heart of these men and their dedication to protecting the Shogun at all cost even if it ment killing anyone who oppossed their beliefs. These men are brave, fighting armies and dying for the Shogun but as the Shogun's power diminishes, different fiefs' began abandoning the Shogunate and rallying behing the Emperor and it is becoming clear that the Shinsengumi is a lost cause yet Kondo strong in his belifs refuses to disband the Shinsengumi even after it becomes clear the samurai way of life is over. Kondo is a farmer turned warrior he is not an educated man he refuses to see the politics of the situation and pays a dear price for it. I love samurai films I have many Shinsengumi movies in my collection but this film puts a magnifying glass on the infamous warriors without romanizing the group. The movie clearly shows the outdated moral codes many in Japan continued to live by during this time. The whole country of Japan was stagnant while the world was changing and the Shinsengumi were slow to understand these changes. Im a fan of Kinji Misumi, in fact im a big fan of his movies, his film The Last Samurai is his swan song about the Shinsengumi and gets all the glory, while it is a good film, It's hard to clearly get a solid understanding of the Shinsengumi the way you could in this film, and it doesn't hurt to have one of world cinema's best Toshiro Mifune, who is fantastic as always. This is a must buy ladies and gentleman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Daisho2004 Posted June 6, 2007 Share Posted June 6, 2007 I heard there was a lot of inaccuracies in this movie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest strutr74 Posted June 6, 2007 Share Posted June 6, 2007 I heard the same thing. But it's just a MOVIE ,not a history lesson or true events. Myself, I like the movie alot. It's Mufune What more needs to be said?8) great Synops Pressure Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest KevinClo Posted June 6, 2007 Share Posted June 6, 2007 Overall this is one of my favorite Shinsengumi movies. I think Mifune does a good job of portraying Kondo in a very ideal and positive way. It does have some historical inaccuracies, but I don't watch these movies for history. I love reading about history, but I try to keep movies and history separate. Movies tend to emphasize making a good entertaining story while historians try to stick more to facts. The worst crowd I have ever encountered are Wyatt Earp fans. Some of them get to the point where they say they can't watch certain movies because of this issue. Which I think misses the whole point as to why these movies are made. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tosh Posted June 7, 2007 Share Posted June 7, 2007 Do you have this one Pressureworld? or was it a rent? I don't believe I ever seen it yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest pressureworld Posted June 7, 2007 Share Posted June 7, 2007 I own it Animego version that was just released I already got you Tosh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Daisho2004 Posted June 7, 2007 Share Posted June 7, 2007 I haven't pick it up yet, but I plan on doing so in the near future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest GwaiLoMoFo Posted June 8, 2007 Share Posted June 8, 2007 Good to hear some positive reviews on "Shinsengumi". Some of the reviews I found online were pretty negative. DVDtalk review I think IMDB only had it at around a 6/10 or so. I have it, but have not sat down to watch it yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest KevinClo Posted June 9, 2007 Share Posted June 9, 2007 That dvdtalk review is actually pretty fair and I would agree with a lot of it. I can understand someone not liking this movie. The problem is each Shinsengumi movie, much like 47 Ronin movies, has a certain pattern to it. A bunch of ronin go to Kyoto and accept jobs as a brutal police force. Early on they gain fame for at something called the Ikedaya Incident. That is usually the major action part of the movie. Then, everything is downhill from there where members of the group lose trust with each other and the infighting begins. I think the positive thing that makes me like this movie is Mifune. BUT, the negative side is that he is what I remember and care about in this movie. It has other known actors, but they are completely second and irrelevant compared to Mifune. Also, there is some background historical information that can be really confusing too. It is kind of like focusing on some regiment in the Confederacy and, if you didn’t know what the causes of the American Civil War were and who was fighting who, you could follow the story, but not see the big picture. I have always thought that one should watch this movie, then watch and compare it to the Cruel Story at the End of the Tokugawa Shogunate. One shows the ideal version and one shows them as a nazi-like sociopathic cult. KC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest pressureworld Posted June 9, 2007 Share Posted June 9, 2007 Brain Camp wrote a very balanced review at IMDB that I am very much in agreement with. I read a terriable review for this film at another forum that didn't do the movie justice and I didn't want that to be what people read when looking for information on this film. Overall I was impressed, this was a great story the only problem is that it tried to be somewhat of an epic and needed to be a little longer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest KevinClo Posted June 10, 2007 Share Posted June 10, 2007 Your review and Brian Camp’s were good too. It is important in any review in talking about this movie to discuss some of the background politics involved. I am not surprised about hearing unfair or unbalanced reviews. A few years ago I purchased this “filmography†about the Shinsengumi. It was the biggest piece of garbage I have ever given money for. Although the guy had seen a lot of the films he just did not know what the heck he was talking about. Not just bad rambling reviews which is one thing, but tons of factual mistakes. There was so much confusion that by comparison it makes a guy like Ric Myers look like a genius. Everyone makes mistakes, but there were way too many. Another informed review of this movie is in Patrick Galloway’s Stray Dog’s and Lone Wolves. “We know they’re going to lose, they know they’re going to lose, but it never dampens their ardor nor diminishes their fighting spirit. That makes them makato no bushi – true samurai!†KC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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