Kagemusha
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Kagemusha (影武者) is a film by Akira Kurosawa. The Japanese word of the title means "impersonator" (more literally, "shadow warrior"). It is the story of a scoundrel who is taught to impersonate a warlord for the sake of dissuading opposing daimyos from attacking the newly vulnerable clan.
The film takes elements from the Warring States period in Japanese history. The shadowed warlord of the story is based on Daimyo Takeda Shingen and the climactic fight on the Battle of Nagashino which took place in 1573 (source: [link]).
The film was released in 1980 and is generally considered a great costume reincarnation of feudal Japan with its endless warlordism as well as the story of a man with a divided personality, or more generally that of an actor who falls too deep into his role.
Plot
The film opens with a six-minute static shot, in which Shingen's brother, Nobukado, introduces a thief who has been spared from crucifixion. Nobukado believes the thief's resemblance to Shingen would prove useful. This is the only time the thief and Shingen are seen together.
Shingen's army has besieged a castle of Tokugawa Ieyasu. When Shingen visits the battlefield to hear a mysterious nightly music, he is shot by a sniper. Mortally wounded, he orders his generals to keep his death a secret for three years. Shingen later dies while being carried over a mountain pass, with only a small group of witnesses.
Nobukado presents the thief to the generals and contrives a plan to have the kagemusha impersonate Shingen full-time. At first, even the thief is unaware of Shingen's death, until he tries to break into a coffin and finds the corpse.
Spies working for Tokugawa and his ally, Oda Nobunaga, follow the Takeda army as they march home from the siege. They suspect that Shingen has been replaced, but are later convinced by the kagemusha's performance.
Returning home, the kagemusha successfully fools Shingen's concubines and grandson, who seems to prefer the substitute. By imitating Shingen's gestures, the kagemusha appears to take on the attitude of a zen master, and is able to awe even the bodyguards and wakashu who know his secret. When tested, he relies on the clan motto, which identifies Shingen with an unmoving mountain.
One of the tests comes when Tokugawa and Oda Nobunaga launch an attack against Takeda territory. Shingen's son, Katsuyori, launches a counterattack against the advice of other generals. The kagemusha is forced to lead reinforcements to the Battle of Takatenjin, and inspires his troops to victory.
In a fit of overconfidence, the kagemusha attempts to ride Shingen's unruly horse. When he is unable to tame the beast, he is revealed as an impostor. The thief is driven out of the palace as Katsuyori, despite being disinherited, takes over the clan.
Katsuyori leads an ill-advised attack against Oda Nobunaga, who controls Kyoto, resulting in the Battle of Nagashino. Wave after wave of cavalry and infantry are cut down by volleys of musket fire, effectively wiping out all the Takeda (though in reality, the clan continued under Kastuyori's leadership for years after the battle). The kagemusha, who has followed the Takeda army, witnesses the slaughter. In a final show of loyalty, he takes up a lance and makes a futile charge against Oda's fortifications. The final image is of the kagemusha's body being carried down a stream.
Background/Production
Kurosawa originally cast the boisterous Shintaro Katsu in the title role. He left the production, however, before the first day of shooting was over – either fired or left of his own accord (stories differ) – and was replaced by Tatsuya Nakadai, who had appeared in a number of the director's previous films.
A little known fact is that George Lucas and Francis Ford Coppola are credited at the end of the film as Executive producers (international version). They convinced 20th Century Fox – when the original producers, Toho Studios, could not afford to complete the film – to make up the shortfall in the budget in return for the international distribution rights.
Kurosawa specifically wrote a part in Kagemusha for his longtime favorite actor Takashi Shimura, and Kagemusha was the last Kurosawa movie in which Shimura appeared. However, the scene was cut from the western release, and many people do not even know that Shimura was in the film. The release of the movie by the Criterion Collection rescued the lost footage and has included it within their US release of the film.
Reception
Won the Golden Palm at the 1980 Cannes Film Festival. (It tied with All That Jazz). It was also nominated for two Academy Awards (Best Art Direction and Best Foreign Language Film).
Cast
Tatsuya Nakadai as Takeda Shingen/Kagemusha
Tsutomu Yamazaki as Takeda Nobukado
Kenichi Hagiwara as Takeda Katsuyori
Jinpachi Nezu as Tsuchiya Sohachiro
Hideji Otaki as Yamagata Masakage
Daisuke Ryu as Oda Nobunaga
Masayuki Yui as Tokugawa Ieyasu
Kaori Momoi as Otsuyanokata
Mitsuko Baisho as Oyunokata
Hideo Murota as Baba Nobufusa
Takayuki Shiho as Naito Masatoyo
Koji Shimizu as Atobe Katsusuke
Noburo Shimizu as Hara Masatane
Sen Yamamoto as Oyamada Nobushige
Shuhei Sugimori as Kōsaka Masanobu
Quotes
Shingen Takeda: Even with this resemblance, Nobukado, he is so wicked as to be sentenced to crucifixion. How could this scoundrel be my double?
Kagemusha: I only stole a few coins. A petty thief. But you've killed hundreds and robbed whole domains. Who is wicked, you or I?
Shingen Takeda: I am wicked, as you believe. I am a scoundrel. I banished my father and I killed my own son. I will do anything to rule this country. War is everywhere. Unless somebody unifies the nation and reigns over us, we will see more rivers of blood and more mountains of the dead.
Masakage Yamagata: How old are you, sire? Fifty-three, as I remember.
Shingen Takeda: Why?
Masakage Yamagata: And you still behave like a five-year-old child. People gather, scatter, they go left and right following their interests. That is not surprising. But then I find you like this. With such a narrow mind, you must not dream of rulership. Go back to your own domain. You are a mountain monkey. You should be gathering nuts in the mountains of Kai.
Nobukado Takeda: I know it is difficult. I was for a long time the lord's double. It was torture. It is not easy to suppress yourself to become another. Often I wanted to be myself and free. But now I think this was selfish of me. The shadow of a man can never desert that man. I was my brother's shadow. Now that I have lost him, it is as though I am nothing.
Screenshots
External links
{| style="margin:0 auto;" align=center width=75% class="toccolours" |align=center| Films by Akira Kurosawa |- |align=center| Sanshiro Sugata (1943) | The One Most Beautiful (1944) | Sanshiro Sugata Part II (1945) | They Who Step on the Tiger's Tail (1945) | Those Who Make Tomorrow (1946) | No Regrets for Our Youth (1946) | One Wonderful Sunday (1947) | Drunken Angel (1948) | The Quiet Duel (1949) | Stray Dog (1949) | Scandal (1950) | Rashomon (1950) | The Idiot (1951) | Ikiru (1952) | The Seven Samurai (1954) | I Live in Fear (1955) | Throne of Blood (1957) | The Lower Depths (1957) | The Hidden Fortress (1958) | The Bad Sleep Well (1960) | Yojimbo (1961) | Sanjuro (1962) | High and Low (1963) | Red Beard (1965) | Dodesukaden (1970) | Dersu Uzala (1975) | Kagemusha (1980) | Ran (1985) | Dreams (1990) | Rhapsody in August (1991) | Madadayo (1993)
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