« New Seraphic Offspring | Main | Best of the Jewish Blogosphere # 160 »

March 28, 2008

Seven Samurai and Baby

A great warrior pays tribute to the power of maternal love.

One of the great moments in Akira Kurosawa's masterpiece, The Seven Samurai, 1954, takes place mid-point through the film, after the samurai have cleverly organized the perimeter defenses of the village and trained the peasants in the art of warfare. In truth, the training is mostly about discipline, unit cohesion, and convincing the uncertain farmers that they can do battle, that they must do battle because appeasement to the brigands—the terrorists of 16th century Japan—means rape, pillage and death for the entire village.

And now, in one of the early battles, an outlying grain mill has been attacked and set on fire by the brigands. Kikuchiyo, played by the great Toshiru Mifune, the drunken lout who's out to prove that he's as good as the real samurai, rushes to the grain mill in order to rescue the civilians who are being butchered.

It's a haunting battle scene as Mifune splashes through a waist deep stream toward the doomed windmill. Pillars of smoke climb to the sky—it's a night battle so the sense of dread is deeply compounded. Off-screen we hear swords clashing, brigands shouting, horses screaming and snorting like beasts from hell. Kurosawa nails the essence of grunt warfare from time immemorial: it is chaos.

And then a young woman comes staggering through the stream towards Mifune. Her eyes are wide open saucers, she's heaving shallow labored breaths.

Her knees buckle, it's almost certain that she's been mortally wounded.

She comes closer to the camera, struggling to bridge the short distance to Mifune.

And now we realize that she's cradling a baby in her arms.

The young woman is leaking blood, leaking life, but the love and duty she feels for her child drives her onward—so that finally, ever so gently she hands her baby to the stunned warrior.

And then, once safely in Mifune's arms, the mother collapses and dies.

Mifune stands there covered in mud and blood. He's lit from behind by the burning building, now a roaring furnace. It's a vision of hell on earth.

Mifune, this lice-ridden samurai, this drunken brawler, holds the baby tight in his arms and cries out to his comrades: ”You see how this mother forced herself forward, she wouldn't let herself fall until her baby was safe.”

It's a stunning scene.

The swordsman is paying homage to another warrior, to a mother who protected her child to her last breath. It's a great moment as a down and dirty warrior recognizes and pays tribute to the power of maternal love.

And then another layer of narrative deepens the image, motivates the Mifune character beyond the quest for status and glory and makes richer this greatest of great films.

Mifune breaks down and cries. His tears are not just tears of pain, but rage boils within as he confesses in the next choking breath that he is the child of peasants—he had boasted, though no one really believed him, of samurai lineage—that his mother saved his life when he was a baby and then she too was murdered by brigands.

This scene is a turning point in The Seven Samurai, from now on the other characters look at Kikuchiyo with new found respect—even if he is the son of lowly peasants. And Mifune's motivation, now solidly established, allows his character to mature as a warrior, as a man—ultimately as a true hero.

All this went through my head as I stood and watched my daughter holding her daughter. Already Offspring #2 has that fierce protective look that I recognize and remember when Karen held our children.

And all this went through my head in shul, synagogue, as our grandchild was given her name and welcomed into the community of Torah and Judaism: Maayan Ariel.

Karen and I wish all our friends a lovely and meaningful Rest in Shabbat.

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at March 28, 2008 12:20 PM

Comments

Seraphic Secret is private property, that's right, it's an extension of our home, and as such, Karen and I have instituted two Seraphic Rules and we ask commentors to act respectfully.

1. No profanity.

2. No Israel bashing. We debate, we discuss, we are respectful. You know what Israel bashing is. The world is full of it. Seraphic Secret is one of the few places in the world that will not tolerate this form of anti-Semitism.

That's it. Break either of these rules and you will be banned.

Posted by: Pearl at March 27, 2008 10:00 PM

Posted by: Jackie at March 27, 2008 10:32 PM

Posted by: Lion of Zion at March 27, 2008 11:27 PM

Posted by: Sara at March 28, 2008 01:36 AM

Posted by: Azriel at March 28, 2008 05:22 AM

Posted by: exdemexlib at March 28, 2008 08:48 AM

Posted by: Dr.Carol at March 28, 2008 09:05 AM

Posted by: Jeremiah at March 28, 2008 12:46 PM

Posted by: Jake at March 28, 2008 01:47 PM

Posted by: thud at March 29, 2008 09:30 AM

Posted by: treppenwitz at March 29, 2008 04:39 PM

Posted by: Yael at March 30, 2008 06:22 AM

Posted by: Gila at March 30, 2008 02:18 PM

Posted by: kishke at March 30, 2008 04:45 PM

Posted by: Solomon2 at March 31, 2008 12:27 PM

Posted by: Baila at April 1, 2008 09:15 AM

Posted by: Shira Salamone at April 1, 2008 09:28 AM

Posted by: Robert J. Avrech at April 1, 2008 11:36 AM

Posted by: Max at April 7, 2008 01:02 PM

Post a comment

Name:

Email Address:

Security Code:

URL:
Remember Me? YesNo

Comments: (you may use HTML tags for style)