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It seemed as if Seven Samurai had enough plot elements to make several different movies. It has a lot going on: power relations; class tensions; tradition vs. individualism; fatalistic romance; and wretched existence, to name a few.

The film felt closest to a western, though, which heavily tempered my ability to enjoy it, since I don’t care for westerns. It did, however, make me want to reexamine my stance towards westerns and try watching one again, which I can now re-experience through a different lens.

When I discussed this with a friend she pointed out that a western had been made that was based on Seven Samurai — “The Magnificent Seven“ — confirming my reaction. However, it looks like Kurosawa was himself influenced by westerns to begin with. Anderson (in Prince 1999:14) says, “Kurosawa’s self-acknowledged debt to the American Western, particularly John Ford’s, helped to determine the shape of The Seven Samurai.”

There are two scenes I want to comment on. The first is just one that stood out for me, was pretty emotional for me, and which I feel gives more nuance to the character of the movie. Earlier in the movie we see an old crone who wishes for death, then ponders if it would even be better on the other side. Later, the samurai try to protect a bandit from being massacred by a crowd of farmers, but as the crone stumbles along, using all of her strength to carry a farm tool, the village elder says to let this woman have her revenge for the death of her son, and then the woman and the crowd start hacking away at the bandit.

The other scene just has to do with a random connection that was made for me. In this scene, which occurs several times throughout the film, the farmers are simply hunting down and hacking away at bandits with their farm tools. Watching this I found myself reminded of the “Village of the Crazies” scene in the classic 80s film Gymkata, embedded below.