Review of Yojimbo (1961) by Cole P — 07 Nov 2011

Yojimbo means bodyguard in English. Several other translations suggest "badass", "style" and "carnal justice". Akira Kurosawa's bloodbath may not hold up an outstanding cinematic moral by conventional standards, but it definitely spawned numerous spinoff, homage-movies, and Sergio Leone's epochal Spaghetti Westerns.

This is a movie where there is no clear hero or villain; it's filled with ambiguity (although, ambiguous in this film is defined by mass murder where every individual onscreen has at least one kill beneath his conscience). The central character is Sanjuro, a witty man of the wandering samurai archetype. There's also some Shan Yu in him as well as a very distorted Jesus Christ. Revealed by the opening shot, Sanjuro graces the land, untrammeled by any real destination. Like the constant gale that pervades the air and rocks the grass, his presence in the hellish town is almost serendipitous, owed to by his insouciance for fate and destiny. What he discovers in the unnamed town is a Shakespearean feud between two equal powers. The immediate violence serves as a stark contrast to the billowing winds and the picturesque grass that commences the film. Initially, Sanjuro appears to be a referee of sorts--a mediator, watching above like some omnipotent deity, to keep the quarreling sides in check. As it turns out, Sanjuro is hardly immaculate; rather, he's devious and, at times, a sadist.

Likewise, his persona is paralleled by Seibei (one head honcho) and Ushitora (Seibei's former right-hand who constructed his own gang). These men are piteous, dishonorable and inglorious bastards who privy diabolical stratagems for offing one-another. There's no reason, no purity, no logic--just plain murder and the zest for superiority. It's impossible to sympathize with any of these characters when the normalcy for peace has gone astray in a constant, never-ending quandary--like the constant flowing of wind that incessantly (and tonally) accentuates the violence.

I suppose the characters themselves have learned very little in the context of Yojimbo's story; but Hollywood has certainly taken lots from Kurosawa's classic blood-bath. Without it, there would have been no Rurouni Kenshin, no Kill Bill, and no career for Clint Eastwood.