in the beginning of the movie, what is Shingen doing, or the clan for that matter, what were they all doing that he had got shot? and who's clan had the flute player? was shingen attacking the castle? Idk if this is stupid, but answers would be helpful.
shareok, i'll try to answer your questions to the best of my abilities.
In the beginning, the Takeda clan was laying a siege against Nobunaga's castle. They just cut off the castle's water supply so the castle should fall shortly after. But they didn't know how much longer the castle could hold. They probably wanted to attack only after the besieged could no longer effectively fight back.
That someone in the besieged castle still played flute every night indicated that the situation inside wasn't that bad and the morale was still high. So this was a sort of psychological warfare.
A soldier in the Nobunaga clan noticed the enemy making preparations below the rampart during the day and correctly guessed that someone important would come at night to listen to the flute. So he marked the aiming position in advance. When night came and flute started to play, he heard noises down below and shot in the dark relying on his mark. His shot fatally wounded Shingen. I thought this part of the story was very cool. It reminds me of how Richard the lionheart was killed by a commoner soldier in a besieged castle.
The morale of this story to me is that if your favorite sports include boiling enemies alive in giant cauldrons, then do not let your love of music lead you within enemy snapper's range, even if you think that you are immortal and invinsible. Likewise, the morale of Ran is that if you have been pillaging, sacking castles, and betraying allies all your life, then do not plan for a tranquil and peaceful retirement, even if you think that you have done nothing wrong. ha ha ha...
wow okay thanks very much, I didn't think anyone understood my question, but yeah it really clears it up for me now.
shareJonny with a J,
I just watched the Criterion edition of the film (restored to the 3+ hours) and then watched it through again listening to the commentary. I'm not sure of the name of the guy who does the commentary, but I found the background information about the history of the period in Japanese history really expanded my appreciation for the film. The characters in Kagemusha were all real as were many of the events shown, although the commentator points out that Kurosawa puts his own spin on things, especially in placing the blame for the fall of the Takeda clan on Shingen's son. Overall, I found the commentary interesting and well worth a second viewing of the film.
The commentary gives a good insight into the history. There are a lot of great books on the era, and I've read many of them. Shingen's story is one of the most remarkable, but honestly, I sympathize a lot more with Nobunaga, and he was done perfectly in this film. The commentator said he had an element of madness to him, which explains the prolonged shot of him riding the horse in circles. Nobunaga was an eccentric genius, and a king of tragic, Caesar-like figure. I think that if he had lived, Japan would have been very different.
In my opinion, the wrong side won in the end. Shingen, Nobunaga, or even Kenshin would have been better than Ieyasu.
Ya, found it interesting the way Nobunaga was very open to Western things. It's quite fascinating to consider how different Asian and world history would have been if, instead of closing off foreign influences, Japan at this period had remained open or grew even closer. Such an alliance with, say the Portuguese, would have altered so many other things. Would the Japanese have expanded to North America? So many possible things.
I like the way Kurosawa shows this aspect of Nobunaga like in the scene where he drinks the European "sake". He likes it but Ieyasu hates it - good symbol.
I just watched the Criterion edition of the film (restored to the 3+ hours) and then watched it through again listening to the commentary. I'm not sure of the name of the guy who does the commentary, but I found the background information about the history of the period in Japanese history really expanded my appreciation for the film.The commentary is by:
This thread is a bit old, but to correct an error made in the initial reply...
> In the beginning, the Takeda clan was laying a siege against Nobunaga's castle.
That was a Tokugawa clan castle. Ieyasu Tokugawa was other warlord depicted in the film.
I watched the "International" version 35 years ago, and the longer "Japanese" version (issued by Criterion) this evening.
I thought the account of Shingen being shot was too cursory and unclear in the "Japanese" version and I seem to remember the preparations for him to sit and listen to the flute were actually depicted, not just described, in the shorter version. Is that the case, or have I just invented that scene in my mind over the intervening decades?