Video Review: The Hidden Fortress

Reviewer: Mark Groenewold

Date: September, 2004

My father-in-law is a Kurosawa film nut. He, like many film buffs, has a wide selection of different DVD’s, and laser discs too! It is always a delight to hang out in his soundproofed media room in his house with the surround sound and sub-woofer kicked up loud. True enough, he does have some dogs in his collection, but this is one of the brighter gems.

The Hidden Fortress is a wonderful rollicking tale of survival, loyalty, and resourcefulness in a medieval Japanese setting. Filmed in black and white this film has an edgy quality to it that gives us a sense of looking back on an historical event, a snippet of a history that is slipping away from the Japanese consciousness. The acting is superb, the characters are interesting and unique, and the point of view in the unraveling of this narrative is fascinating.

We see a wide variety of faces in this ancient Japanese setting, yet the same emotional responses and expression that have held true through many great films. We see a wide range of characterizations from scoundrels and robbers, to loyal servants, to samurai warriors, to princesses. Kurosawa has a romantic vision of the past, there is no doubt, but in his vision we also have a richness of voices, a chorus of different expression within the medieval society he hopes to explore and portray.

Within this film two very prominent themes are explored: the first is that of fiercesome loyalty and dedication to one’s cause, to one’s feudal lord, the second is the theme of impermanence and transience in this world. A marvelous theme of the villagers dancing at a bonfire is particularly eerie.Whereas some other samurai-based films trivialize and commercialize these sentiments, Kurosawa is able to deliver in a way which is haunting and hypnotic, provocative and brilliant.

The action scenes of the film are all quite interesting as well. Actors working without stunt-doubles or entourages had to do a lot of this work themselves. It is marvelous to watch such film in its “rawest sense”.

The only negative thing about the version of this DVD which I enjoyed was a ridiculous interview with George Lucas at the end. In the interview he pontificates about how much his own epic of Star Wars was influenced by Kurosawa. If only that were true, George.

Everyone knows that your last three Star Wars movies were embarrassingly bad. I truly wish that you had taken more pages out of Kurosawa’s book. If you had, we would have had films from you that had worthwhile characters, plot, and some kind of workable theme. Instead your hodge-podged hackneyed nonsense is nothing more than a shadow of a mockery of how films should be written and produced.

Watch this film. It is beautiful and evocative.