HORRIBLE Movie

Let me preface this by saying that I’m a huge admirer Kurosawa and that his “Ran” and “Seven Samurai” are in my top ten list of personal favorites. I should follow that up by writing that I loathe that I have to preface my views, as if the amount of film knowledge of film history and a specific director make my opinion any more or less relevant than anyone else’s views.

I had put off watching “The Hidden Fortress” for several years simply because I wanted to save a few of Kurosawa’s films to enjoy later (I’m doing the same with five of Shakespeare’s play and two of Kubrick’s features), so my anticipation (and expectations) was very high.

To say this movie was a letdown is quite the understatement.

Inherently, I like the idea of framing a film from the perspective of the lowest character or characters. Chaplin, of course, did this to great acclaim, as did Welles with “Chimes at Midnight.” And certainly most of the all time greatest directors have some variation on “the fool’s film” somewhere in their oeuvre. Using that point-of-view is an interesting perspective.

But if you choose to do nothing with that perspective, what exactly is the point of doing it in the first place?

Our two fools start as fools, are horrible human beings and remain horrible human beings throughout the film. They have no loyalty to one another, let alone the trio of presumably smart characters who do nothing but save their lives over and over again. And yes, for a beat or two their squabbling is funny and enjoyable. Then it’s tedious. Then it’s frustrating. Then you just wish they would go away. Then you cringe every time the movie cuts back to them. The attempt to sell one another out. Then they attempt to sell out their protector. Then they attempt to sell out the princess. They are greedy. They are useless. And at the end they are rewarded for it.

So why are we wasting our time focusing on them? They are comic relief, sure, but Kurosawa and his co-screenwriters (all of whom worked with him on his other masterworks) surely should have understood that the main characters in a story should have a…what’s it called again?…an arc. They should change as individuals thanks to the events of the film. And no, I don’t consider three lines of dialogue thirty seconds before the finale changing. I presume that if the camera would have followed them for another twenty seconds they would be slitting one another’s throats for the gold. Why are we supposed to root for them? Why should we care?

More than that, they don’t affect the plot in any major way aside from coming up with the plan to skirt the borders. Every other major decision is made by the general and the princess. They don’t have any effect on the plot besides their squabbling hobbling the travelers on multiple occasions. What is the point of putting them front and center if you are not going to have them push or pull the plot machinations? That’s bad writing, plain and simple.

Meanwhile, every other character seems more dimensional, fascinating and endearing. They also have arcs. The general sacrifices his sister to save the princess. The princess becomes a good leader from the journey. The slave girl who has absolutely no allegiance to them chooses to stay and risk her life time and again for them. The evil general turns out to be not so bad after all. But the fools? Nope. They start stupid, stay stupid and end up stupid. In “Yojimbo” most of the town stayed stupid, but there was a point behind it. In “Sanjuro” they were fools at the beginning, but the group slowly came around to understanding and respecting the samurai. The fact that the other characters continue to include the fools on the adventure actually reflects badly back on them and makes the viewer think they are less intelligent than they are.

Alter the main perspective to the general, or the princess, or the slave girl…hell, even the villain, and you’d have a great movie. “The Hidden Fortress” has fleeting great moments, almost all of which occur when the fools are offscreen. The fight with the spears. The princess’ song. The horse action sequence. But the characters and their lack of evolution wrecks the movie for me every time they come onscreen. It’s shorter than much of Kurosawa’s work, but it feels much longer.

I honestly feel like, if George Lucas hadn’t cribbed the first 15 minutes of “Star Wars” from this movie, it wouldn’t even be mentioned as one of Kurosawa’s notable achievements. It makes fundamental storytelling errors and no one seems to talk about it. This is, for my money, the worst Kurosawa film I’ve ever seen. And I’ve seen “No Regrets For Our Youth.”

What a shame.