Samurai Banners (Furin kazan, 1969)
Inagaki Hiroshi
Japan
166 mins, color, Japanese (English subtitles)
I had seen the crappy HEAVEN AND EARTH (directed by Kadokawa), which also tells the story of the two feuding warlords Takeda and Kagetora, and approached Inagaki's version with some trepidation. The reputation of this director is safe with me, especially after repeated viewings of his SAMURAI TRILOGY and CHUSHINGURA, but even I wondered what he could have possibly done with the biggest nonevent in Japanese medieval history. All my worries were laid to rest with this superb period film. Inagaki did not make the mistake of concentrating on either of the two warring lords but instead focused on Takeda's most celebrated general Kansuke Yamamoto (Toshiro Mifune), who was the brain behind the victories anyway. His story is much more interested, both as one of a man driven by a wildly ambitious dream, but also consumed with tragic love. On either level the film works wonders.
Set in Japan between 1543 and 1562, the period of Warring States, SAMURAI BANNERS is an epic film, reminiscent of Kurosawa's grandest, like KAGEMUSHA or even RAN (okay, I duck to avoid heavy flying objects thrown by disgruntled AK fans). Truly, although lacking some of the Grand Master's magical touch, Inagaki is a very gifted director. The costumes are impeccable, and although the story suffers from some continuity problems (apparently due to limited budget, so some of the major turning points are told instead of shown) and some bad music (i.e. did not sound Japanese enough), the film is engrossing and I did not even realize it was almost three hours long.
Kansuke Yamamoto starts out as a ruthless and somewhat vicious ronin, who manages to get into Lord Takeda's (Kinnosuke Nakamura) service by, let's say, less than honorable means. He quickly proves his worth as a brilliant, but heartless, strategist and helps his Lord conquer the neighboring provinces. In one of them, he finds Princess Yu (Yoshiko Sakuma) and falls in love with her. However, before he can do anything, Takeda takes her as a concubine. Bound by his sense of duty and honor, Yamamoto dedicates his life to watching her every wish come true (well, almost). The love story is very Japanese and is told in a way that may seem strange to a Western audience: there is no Lancelot-Guenevere romanticism here. Nothing is ever spoken directly (in fact, some have missed this part of the story completely), and the proceedings are so subdued that one has to be careful with interpretations.
The Takeda Clan starts out from the home province of Kai and spreads its dominion over the neighboring Kozuke and Shinano, both larger in territory than Kai. Yamamoto's ambition knows no bounds (or at least is bounded by the sea) for he plans to unify that portion of Japan under Takeda. His dreams, often called foolish by those who "only see what's in front of them," were not to be realized until a century later, by the rival Tokugawa Clan. For now, the greatest obstacle in his drive to the sea is the rich province Echigo and its young but fearless Lord Kagetora, aka Uesugi Kenshin (Yujiro Ishihara). The story of Kagetora is told, albeit in a flawed and unsatisfying way, by Kadokawa Haruki in his 1990 HEAVEN AND EARTH. One of the things that really upset me in the newer version was the portrayal of Princess Yu(fu). In Inagaki's version, she is forced to become the concubine of the person who had slain her father; her tragedy is that once she bears him a son (Katsuyori), she is torn between her desire for revenge and her feelings for him as a father. She is unable to carry out any of her plans, if she had any, and dies from her chronic illness. In Kadokawa's version, she is riding horses into battle and is Takeda's flaming lover, and what have you, until she finally gets treacherously murdered. I can't believe the director sacrificed such a beautiful character to make this ill-conceived and utterly implausible amazon. But enough rants...
All in all, the film is pretty good. The battles are nicely done, but not overindulging. There is some gore: a severed hand at the very beginning, but that's all, very misleading. For people who come from the violent samurai films, SAMURAI BANNERS will be sure to disappoint. For me, it was excellent. Yoshiko Sakuma is stunning (Inagaki has always had a knack for picking up the best leading ladies), and her acting is captivating. Of course, Toshiro Mifune is great; even with a shaved head, and despite the ridiculous helmets. The English subtitles by AnimEgo were superb, probably one of the best I've seen, even with different colors for different characters. They also provided running explanations for some of the terms used in conversation. Very complete, very nicely done, and nary a grammatical error. I've been inundated with Hong Kong films recently, so my amazement is probably understandable. I can't wait for this film to appear on DVD, the VHS transfer, although decent, cannot do the colors justice.
April 28, 2001. BLS