Sunday, August 13, 2023

“The Hidden Fortress”

We watched another historic-era film by Akira Kurosawa.
It’s set in some unspecified medieval time period.
The film stars Toshiro Mifune and Misa Uehara. It was released in 1958.
 
A princess is rescued from her hiding place in a hidden fortress by a samurai
and two peasant adventurers. If she is captured, she will be beheaded. Of course she
is rescued and returned to her rightful realm across two borders and much difficult terrain.

The princess is tough, and nobody messes with her!

The princess and her rescuers at one point attend a night-time fire festival that’s fantasmagoric.

The scenery is dramatic. There are many horses and troops of soldiers.



In The Hidden Fortress four individuals travel together after Princess Yuki’s hiding place in her hidden fortress is breached. Her protector, played by Mifune, enlists the help of two comic peasants who only want the gold that the princess is taking with her. These lowlifes aren’t very loyal, but they are motivated by greed for the gold (the word greedy comes up over and over). 

The four adventurers go through all kinds of landscapes and face all kinds of perils until finally, they cross the last frontier and Princess Yuki is restored to lead her rightful kingdom. Many of the plot points and character types in this film are acknowledged by George Lucas as inspirations for Star Wars, where a princess also goes through many adventures to be restored to leadership of her kingdom.
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4 comments:

  1. anno8/13/2023 8:49 PM

    Wow! You've been on quite a Kurosawa binge lately -- and it does look like fun. Those posters are amazing. I'm still working on my husband to watch The Seven Samurai with me again.

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  2. Bleubeard and Elizabeth8/13/2023 9:29 PM

    I can see where the plot of the story would influence George Lucas and Princess Leah. However, Princess Yuki is a bad ass compared to Princess Leah. Nice review.

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  3. Stevenson Q8/14/2023 5:18 AM

    Beautiful review Mae! I also like watching past Asian movies with my father when I was still in the Philippines, specifically Chinese movies with Kung-Fu action scenes with a light humor in them.

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  4. Iris Flavia8/14/2023 5:47 AM

    Interesting.
    My Dad was into the musketeer-area, where you already had weapons to shoot over a "safe" distance.
    In your movie they had to brave up and go at the "enemy" directly.
    Now look at the shootings in the United States or the knife attacks in Germany.
    Why do "we" fight anyways, and why the way it´s done.
    "Let it be" should rule, no?

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