| Overview: | A relentless attack on the feudal traditions inherent in Japanese society, "Samurai Rebellion", set in the early 17th century, stars two of Japan's greatest actors: Toshiro Mifune and Tatsuya Nakadai.
Framed within the classic Japanese conflict between giri (feudal loyalty) and ninjo (human feeling), "Samurai Rebellion" finds ultimate value in the mutual love of a husband and wife--a rare enough moral resolution in any Japanese warrior film. This is made even more unusual by the fact that the director Kobayashi was a Marxist critic of society, who might have regarded romantic love as a bourgeois luxury. Mifune played Isaburo Sasahara, a man who has spent his life of self abnegation in the service of his lord. A fine swordsman, his only equal is Tatewaki Asano, played by Nakadai. Unused to protesting against personal or social injustice, Sasahara is finally roused by his lord's seizure of his daughter-in-law. Not only is he brought into direct opposition with his own clan, but with his former friend, Asano.
A film that moves from pessimism to despair, "Samurai Rebellion" is one of the cornerstones of Japanese cinema.
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