Does anybody get the ending of the movie? I'm talking about the part where she's at the river, un-sheathes her sword and draws it close to her face, and the movie blacks out. Is she planning on killing herself (with the guy and everyone else dead and all)? Or was she about to throw the sword in the river, giving up her old life? When I watched it I get the impression that she's doing one or the other. Anyone Know?
shareI don't know for sure, but I would guess she was giving up her sword to live... for him.
shareThe film is about power and who should be allowed to have it. Takashi (the young man), takes power by joining a revolutionary group and helping to make and plant bombs. People get hurt and he pays the price. Yuki (the princess) is born to power; it's what she was destined for. She has the strength and character to rule. That's what she realises at the end when she's looking at her sword.
There's much more to the story than many people realise. It's not a martial-arts movie (it just happens to have some swords in it), and when a certain type of person watches it and finds that there's not much fighting, they're disappointed (just like Lady Snowblood, which was inspired by the same story).
i never noticed that..but does she decide to rule and cary on being prnicess then....or just try and find hapiness like takashi and her planned to?
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Myself, I see a sense of resolve in her expression. Whatever path she is going to take, she chooses it in the final moments of the last scene. I'm leaning towards a Lone Wolf & Cub kind of scenario, where she "goes it alone", starting with the revenge killing of Takashi's killer. After losing Takashi, I can't see her fitting in with "normal" (such as it is) society. Not just yet.
shareShe doesn't throw the sword away at the end. She has responcibilities. She'll go on to wield power in a just way.
shareYeah I think she's trying to decide whether she should put her sword down and leave, or continue to wield it in (as the guy above me said) a just way. I think she chose the latter, and decided to go after Kidokoro. Maybe after she kills Kidokoro, then she would leave the country and settle into a normal life elsewhere.
"The comfort of the rich depends upon an abundant supply of the poor."
- Voltaire
I think the film was intended to be the basis of a set of sequels that never happened.
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