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charismatic warrior, who not only takes on the assignment, but helps gather six other samurai. Among these is Kikuchiyo, a particularly messy and unkempt individual, who is drawn to the group and accepted mainly out of pity. Relations between the samurai and villagers are tense at best, neither group fully trusting the other. More stress is placed on this relationship when Katsushiro, the youngest of the seven, and Shino, a young peasant girl, fall in love with each other. Kikuchiyo turns out to be the key to maintaining the alliance of samurai and peasant, as it is discovered that he is of peasant origin himself. In a series of violent exchanges the samurai are able to defeat the bandits, mainly through Kambei’s intelligent use of tactics. But this comes at a cost; at the end of the film only Kambei and two other samurai survive. The love between Katsushiro and Shino must remain unfulfilled; the samurai are no longer needed and must move on.

ANALYSIS
     
    Seven Samurai is the masterpiece by Akira Kurosawa that defined the samurai film as we know it today. The film is an accomplished mix of superb characterisation, well-executed battle scenes and observations on the class structure of feudal Japan.
    The characterisation in Seven Samurai is exceptional, as we have come to expect from Kurosawa. Each of the seven samurai is shown to have different motivations for joining the group, and they have widely varying character traits. While all seven performances are of a very high standard, special mention must go to Takashi Shimura and Toshiro Mifune. Shimura is well cast as Kambei, the wise samurai who brings the seven together. Shimura’s sensitive performance shows a balance of warmth, intelligence and martial prowess in Kambei, making it clear to the audience that he is ideally suited to hold the seven together. Kikuchiyo, a wild, uncontrollable ronin, is played by Mifune, whose expressive features and blustering manner are perfect for the overblown character he plays. Kurosawa and his writers allegedly worked out detailed past histories for each of the seven, which pays off in a script full of realistic dialogue and convincing motivations. As we watch the seven prepare the village against the oncoming assault by the bandits, we grow attached to them, as we would to real people.
    The seven enjoy a light-hearted moment. Seven Samurai directed by Akira Kurosawa and produced by Sojiro Motoki for Toho Studios.
     
    Kurosawa uses the samurai’s interaction with the peasants as a device for examining class issues. As with all of Kurosawa’s films this is not executed in a heavy-handed way, but instead integrated seamlessly into the film. There is a constant interplay of trust and mistrust between the samurai and the peasants, most of which arises from the class gulf between the two groups, which ultimately the characters in the film fail to bridge. Not even the potential relationship between young samurai Katsushiro and peasant girl Shino is able to form a solid bond between the two classes. This relationship fails the test set out by the film, just as the alliance between samurai and peasant does; when the unusual conditions that necessitated the two groups living and working together have passed, they both fall back into their old (separate) ways. The film’s ending, which highlights the inevitability of this revelation, is sad and moving to watch. The final scenes of Kambei and the survivors, surveying the graves of their fallen comrades, while the peasants ignore them and continue to work as they have done for centuries, makes clear the ultimate fragility of the samurai class, stripping any sense of victory from Kambei and his men.
    Perhaps the greatest feature of Seven Samurai is the lengthy battle scenes which take place towards its end. After we have come to know Kurosawa’s carefully drawn characters we watch them fight, and in some cases die, in some of the finest battle scenes of the era. The action between the samurai