Seven Samurai is about a small village in the country filled with peasants and farmers. They are constantly being harassed by bandits that steal all their rice and take their women. When they overhear the bandits plan to rob from them yet again, they decide to consult with the village elder to see if he has any advice on how to prevent this. The elder tells them to hire samurai. A few of the villagers head to the city to try and find samurai that are willing to defend their village for no reward and just be paid with rice meals.
It doesn't go well. They can't find any samurai that seem to be interested in helping them out. That is until a thief hides out in a barn with a child as a hostage. A samurai comes to the rescue and saves the child. They ask him if he would be willing to help and after seeing the desperation in their faces he agrees. He seeks out other samurai and after making sure they have sufficient skill he recruits them. He finally gets seven, including himself, (actually one he reluctantly takes along and the other won't take no for an answer and follows him) and they start to work on a plan to protect the village.
I could go into more detail but as I said before it's a 3.5 hour long movie so that would be a pretty long summary. The cinematography had some gorgeous landscapes to work with and I think the movie worked quite nicely in black and white because it had a sharper image to it. The characters all had their own identities, which isn't always easy in a war movie (if you want to call it a war, it's more like a battle). I just wish I knew more about samurai's and the culture because at times I was a little confused why some things were a big deal.
Rating: ****
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