The Last Samurai: Encyclopedia II - The Last Samurai - Plot

The Last Samurai - Plot

Captain Nathan Algren, a disenchanted army captain (once under the command of George Armstrong Custer), travels to Japan to help the new Meiji Restoration government to train its first Western-style army. The Japanese are eager to adapt into a modern, Western-style, civilization, and have recruited experts in various fields from many different Western countries. Algren's job will be to train the Japanese army to counter the rebel threat, led by one Katsumoto, who believes that Japan is progressing far too quickly.

Algren begins training the army, consisting mostly of peasants and farmers who have never used firearms. After only a few brief weeks, Algren is ordered to take the army into battle against the samurai, despite his insistence that the men are not ready. Moreover, Algren seems to want to meet his death, so burdened is he by guilt over his past transgressions against Native-American civilians.

Algren leads the army into battle against Katsumoto's men, and as he had forseen, the attack claims the lives of many of the inexperienced soldiers. Though he exhausts himself in fighting, he manages to kill many samurai, including one adorned in red armor. He is spared execution by Katsumoto, and is then taken as a prisoner to an isolated village, owned by Katsumoto's only son, where he gradually recovers from his wounds begins to mingle with the people there.

Algren comes to discuss many things with Katsumoto, who enjoys "a good conversation," and it is through him that Algren is given a glimpse through the eyes of his enemy. While he has several times irked Katsumoto's sister, Taka (who, incidently, is the widowed wife of the samurai in red armor), Algren also comes to be attracted to her, while her two young sons grow ever more fond of him. Algren learns swordplay from Ujio, a skilled swordsman and capable warrior, and is often accompanied by an unknown elder warrior, whom Nathan repeatedly refers to as "Bob."

While it is Katsumoto's intention to glean whatever information he can from Algren, and then to free him once winter comes around, Nathan learns, during an assassination attempt on Katsumoto's life (most likely under orders from Omura), that Katsumoto would gladly take his life if the emperor commanded it. When spring comes, Nathan is taken back into civilization, where he learns that the army is now organized, and more importantly, outfitted with Howitzer cannons and gatling guns. He is given his pay and asked to stay on as a training consultant, but declines. He later learns that Katsumoto is to meet with the emperor's council, which later leads to his arrest. After Nathan is attacked en route to Katsumoto's estate, he decides to rescue Katsumoto. A jailbreak is devised and Katsumoto is freed, but his son recieves a mortal wound, that eventually leads to his death.

Katsumoto is devastated both by this, and by the fact that the emperor is unable to speak for his nation, instead allowing his advisors to control what is said. While the emperor shows reluctance in speaking, Algren convinces Katsumoto to continue his rebellion to the end, hoping that the emperor will hear his words. A force of swordsmen and warriors is built up—it is here that Algren recieves a katana of his own—and Algren and Katsumoto begin to plan their final stand. It is here that Katsumoto compares his futile attack to that of General Custer's. Algren recounts the legendary Battle of Thermopylae, in which 300 Spartan warriors held off a Persian army of nearly 1 million men, and the Persians suffering losses so great that they lost all taste for battle and were defeated soon afterward.

The attack starts with Howitzers falling short, then on target, but the samurai force uses walls of fire and wood to cover their escape and deny the enemy army a view of their casualties. The samurai wait behind a hill, with archers covered by wood walls, and a single arrow of fire is released, hitting a group of oiled grass designed to block off the army and kill those caught in its inferno. Algren and Katsumoto prepare to battle, with Katsumoto asking Algren what the fate of the Greek soldiers was. "Dead to the last man," Nathan replies.

In a fierce battle that leaves many samurai dead and both Algren and Katsumoto injured, Algren reflects that they will not be able to deflect a counterattack by the army. Seeing no escape, they mount horses and charge the army, passing through the infantry lines only to be stopped short by gatling fire, which mortally wounds Katsumoto and injures Nathan badly. The army ceases fire, watching on as Katsumoto, wishing to die with what honor he has left, commits an act of sepukku and ends his life. The army shows their respect by bowing to the fallen samurai.

Later, the American ambassadors prepares to have the emperor sign a treaty that would give the US exclusive rights to sell firearms to the Japanese government, only to be interrupted by an obviously injured Algren, bearing Katsumoto's sword. He tells the emperor that Katsumoto would have wanted him to have it, to remember the ancestors that served before him. It is in this that the emperor finally gathers the conviction and valor to turn away the American ambassadors, citing, "we cannot forget who we are... or where we come from."

Although many of the film's cast members are Japanese, the production crew is almost entirely American, and most of the movie was filmed in New Zealand.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Plot", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki