Harakiri

I can't believe this dude filibustered his own suicide lmao. But in all seriousness, this movie is a masterpiece and you could show this to someone 100 years from now and they would love as much as someone from 1962. It is just that timeless and goated. This movie shows how "dishonorable" people from the past were and how easy it is to rewrite history. At the end of the movie the dude in charge of the clan tells them to write that the main character died by harakiri and everyone else who died fighting him died of illness. They were too embarrassed to admit that they shot him dishonorably with guns. This sort of thing happened in other cultures too. We think of warriors from the past as these untouchable gods who were brave and ruthless. But after watching this I have to wonder how much of that is true? The majority of people I know would never get enjoyment from killing others, why would our ancestors be different? It is likely that many men who fought in these great wars of the past were forced to join their militaries and die a death they did not want. The whole thing about "samurai honor" not existing reinforces this I think. Most people will (and should) always put themselves and their loved ones before an organization or an idea. Especially when that organization (or government) would never do the same for you. This was secretly a war movie lmao. I love Kobayahi so much.