…haters. Yes, fuck Tom Cruise haters. Pop culture cohorts. What do any of us know about his [own] struggle? Nothing. What do any of us know about anybody else’s struggle…and yet Tom Cruise came up in a small talk dialogue the other day and this lady had all this bile to articulate. I just thought, …The Last Samurai, …smiled and walked away from the discussion. Anyone who can sign on to a role in an epic like The Last Samurai and stay the course, train, become the character, complete the journey, is, if nothing else, a dedicated professional actor worth his salt. I’m not a fanatic of the Tom Cruise acting method. No, it is what it is, but I won’t participate in the 21st Century bashing of some cat (who has proved a use to his profession time & again and can apparently participate in the joy-buzzer moments of any given loving relationship, cool) just because he got overanxious and ranted a bit on TV, or devotes time to meditating on an expensive science fiction story, or… isn’t tall enough apparently to socially satisfy his (translucent/pastel with a breathtaking face & voice) X- Aussie bride. Isn’t that his effin business? Mine is simply to view the work and, if worth it, view it again…with more intention. & I have.
The Last Samurai. The set locations, Hans Zimmer’s film score and the support cast alone get me every time, as I had the distinct pleasure (honor) to know a little bit about the people from time spent in their company (not Samurai, exactly, but students of the philosophy and [just] the locale as a whole. & not Japan, exactly, but via a year’s worth of the Ryukyu Island chain. Only one year and it stays with me). My father studied Japanese Martial Arts and it made him a strange Caucasian and chillingly focused---sometimes in a good way.
But, back to the flick: From it’s attempts to portray the Samurai in an honest light while revealing some truths about the West’s dedicated oppression of it’s precious resources and native (and import) culture(s) for sake of revenues ... to the East’s oppression of it’s own deeply precious people and places: …An epic…important film [IMHO] that I enjoy watching with my wife and sons, taking in every word…every note, every pebble tossed into our pond.
Could Sean Penn have played Nathan Algren? I don’t know…Probably. No doubt would have suffered the role well (in order to completely own it) too. But he didn’t. Tom Cruise did. Good enough. Maybe watch the movie again. Perseverant Peace.
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