Samurai Films by Roland Thorne Read Free Book Online

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PLOT SUMMARY
     
    Two peasant prisoners of war, Matashichi and Tahei, escape the Yamana clan and discover the hidden fortune of the defeated Akizuki clan. The two peasants are found by General Rokurota, who, along with Princess Yuki and the gold, is staying in the Akizuki hidden fortress, a building carefully concealed in the mountains. Princess Yuki and the gold are both wanted badly by the Yamana, and Rokurota needs to get them safely to the friendly Hayakawa clan. Hearing Matashichi and Tahei’s bold plan to actually travel through Yamana territory to get to Hayakawa, Rokurota decides to go with them. He ensures the peasants’ help by promising them a share of the gold. The high-spirited Princess Yuki pretends to be a mute peasant girl, as the unusual group sets out on their journey, carrying a cargo of gold, hidden in pieces of firewood. Narrowly avoiding capture many times, Rokurota and Yuki are eventually caught by their enemies. They escape execution with the help of Hyoe Tadakoro, a Yamana general who is impressed by Yuki’s spirit and leadership. Safely in Hayakawa territory, Yuki rewards the peasants with a small trinket. Grateful to have escaped with their lives, the two friends head home.

ANALYSIS
     
    By far the most commercial of Akira Kurosawa’s films, The Hidden Fortress is nonetheless an exciting adventure, featuring impressive and well-realised scenes, on a much larger scale than any of his previous films.
    Kurosawa makes good use of the widescreen format (this is his first widescreen film) and a large budget to tell an epic story. Legions of extras are utilised to create convincing armies on the march, army encampments and a huge peasant procession. Among these scenes is a frenetic sequence depicting a riot, as prisoners of war attempt to escape. Kurosawa fills a darkened screen with writhing bodies as the prisoners swarm over their guards, suggesting the horror and confusion of violence on a large scale.
    The scenes in which Princess Yuki and General Rokurota are pursued by large numbers of enemy troops are also worthy of mention, helped along by sombre music as the Yamana troops march through the forest. The action scenes throughout The Hidden Fortress are also of a high quality, particularly the spear fight between Rokurota and Hyoe. The two battle all over a Yamana camp in a fast-paced and exciting scene.
    The cast of this film all perform admirably. The beautiful Misa Uehara brings a nice level of haughtiness to the high-spirited Princess Yuki, while Toshiro Mifune is flawless as the stern Rokurota, giving a slight promise of his future, influential performance in Yojimbo . Susumu Fujita and Toshiko Higuchi also perform very well in their respective roles.
    Interestingly, despite the large numbers of extras used for lavish staging, the most influential element of The Hidden Fortress is the way much of the story is told from the perspective of the two peasants, Matashichi and Tahei. The constant bickering between these two characters is always amusing, particularly in the way they always seem to forget all their petty arguments the moment trouble looms. Minoru Chiaki and Kamatari Fujiwara are to be commended for the energy they bring to their roles; despite their obvious greed the peasants come across as likeable characters. Much of the humour in the film comes from the way these two interact with both each other and the remaining characters. The scene in which Matashichi and Tahei attempt to convince Princess Yuki, who they believe is deaf and mute, that they want to take her gold-laden horse for a drink, is particularly amusing as the two engage in increasingly stupid sign language, all the while bickering over who is doing a better job.
    However, the two peasant characters do not only provide comic relief. They also allow the audience a way into the film. The Hidden Fortress tells a story of royalty and generals, of big events involving important people. While exciting, such stories are