THE SEVEN SAMURAI (1954, Japan, 208 min.), directed by Akira Kurosawa, screenplay and editing by Kurosawa; with Toshiro Mifune (Kikuchiyo), Takashi Shimura (Kambei, Chief Samurai), Yoshio Inaba (Gorobei), Seiji Miyaguchi (Kyuzo, the "Magnificent" Samurai), Minoru Chiaki (Heihachi, the Humorous Samurai), Daisuke Kato (Shichiroji, Kambei's Friend), Ko Kumura (Katsushiro), Kuninori Kodo (Gisaku), Yoshio Tsuchiya (Rikichi), Keiko Tsushima (Shino), Bokuzen Hidari (Yohei), Kamatari Fujiwara (Manzo, Shino's father).

1. The Seven Samurai is set in a very foreign environment-- both in terms of place and of historical period. Do you have problems with this "foreign-ness"? By the end of the film, do you feel comfortable with this environment?

2. List some of the major oppositions or contrasts (themes and characters) in The Seven Samurai.

3. A writer on Japanese film has said that the great Japanese filmmakers have "the knack of capturing mood and atmosphere, of presenting the environment as an extension of man." Do you find this is true of Kurosawa in this film? Explain with examples.

4. Kurosawa has stated that John Ford, best known for his Westerns, is his favorite director. Can you see the influence of American Westerns on this film? Give examples.

5. The Seven Samurai is also very much a WAR picture. Like most war films it treats the efforts of different types of people, different segments of society, to pull together and fight a common enemy. Another aspect of the War Film is that it tends, like most action films, to use weapons symbolically: each kind of weapon has special connotations attached to it, connotations which the filmmaker can use deliberately. How does Kurosawa use (a) the sword, (b) the spear, (c) the bow-and-arrow, and (d) the gun?

6. You'll notice that each of the seven samurai is introduced differently, and that each has a distinct personality. Who is your favorite of the seven samurai, and why?

7. What are, as far as you can tell, the characteristics of the ideal samurai? Who comes closest to embodying them?

8. Kikuchiyo (Toshiro Mifune) is perhaps the most memorable character in the film. Trace his development, from buffoon to samurai.

9. When we are first introduced to them, the peasants of the village are all sitting, actually crouching, in a great circle. Discuss this scene as it unfolds. How does their posture and positioning reflect their condition in life? What kind of impression do they make?

10. Like most carefully-structured dramas, The Seven Samurai begins with the disruption of the status quo (the peasants can no longer peacefully live their lives and till their land) and ends when that status quo is restored. Still, the experience has had a profound effect on the peasants. How do they change in order to meet their crisis?

11. As in most War films, and many Westerns, this movie works with a "coming-of-age" theme, in its use of Katsushiro, the young samurai. What does Katsushiro come to learn about war, society, and life in general by the end of the film?

12. What did you find most striking about the final battle scenes?

13. At the end of the film we see the peasants planting rice and the surviving samurai standing in front of the freshly dug graves of both samurai and peasants. What do you make of this last image? How do you feel at the end of the picture?

14. Based on what you've read about Kurosawa, what are some ways in which Seven Samurai embodies aspects of the typical Kurosawa film?

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