Whatcha Watchin'? The Last Samuri
by Mycenay
As a film viewer, I try to be discriminate in what I see (and spend money on), usually staying away from Hollywood formula-films with predictable actors and performances. Upon hearing positive feedback on The Last Samurai, I decided to see how concepts like discipline, honor, transformation, and loyalty were crystallized in this film.
All of the actors did an admirable job, especially Ken Wantanbe as Katsumoto, the leader of the warrior samurai. But what affected and haunted me most was a message in the film which kept bringing me back to a statement in The URANTIA Book (p. 786): "Old-fashioned war did select the innately great men for leadership, but modern war no longer does this. To discover leaders society must now turn to the conquests of peace: industry, science, and social achievement."
The samurai were indeed practitioners of "old-fashioned war." But as the story showed, once modern weapons were introduced and men no longer came up against men, "greedy, opportunistic wimps" could win wars. The loss of so many of the honorable and the proliferation of the mediocre does seem to have set back civilization. Reverting to samurai methodologies of resolving conflicts is not the answer, but neither is advancing in weaponry technologies.
Humankind seems to be at a perilous crossroad. The mindsets of the dominant world leaders push for war over the direction of divine guidance which encourages peace. As The Last Samurai showed, re-education can be slow and painful (as experienced by Tom Cruise’s character) or it can be a sudden realization (as shown by the character of the Japanese Emperor). Personally, I’d like to see humankind "suddenly" shift in their concept of what true leadership is all about. I’d much prefer a world replete with beautiful gardens, higher relationships, and respect for elders over one littered with land mines, amputeed children, radiation sicknesses, and SUV traffic jams.