Epic!
Saturday, July 26, 12:30 pm to 5:30 pm
Instructor: Paul Wright, Ph.D., Main Line Classical Academy
Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai (1954) would inspire many reinventions, including John Sturges’ well-regarded American adaptation, The Magnificent Seven, yet the original remains the benchmark for intelligent action films that appeal to both the head and the heart.
What is less appreciated by audiences outside of Japan, however, is just how pointed and at times subversive Kurosawa’s vision really is. Aside from being spellbinding entertainment, Seven Samurai is also a reflective historical fiction set in the sixteenth-century era of the Sengoku-jidai, a period of brutal civil war that ravaged every corner of Japan. Keeping in mind that Kurosawa’s film was made not long after Japan’s disastrous defeat in World War II, Seven Samurai resonates powerfully with the longstanding Japanese appetite for tales of Japan’s feudal past, while at the same time providing a point of comparison to modern Japan’s experience of the futility of war. A film that also explores the fraught class dynamics between its samurai and the bandit-plagued farmers desperate enough to hire them, Seven Samurai is a contemporary entertainment with both an historical consciousness and a bracing sense of the social conflicts that continued to fester under the surface of postwar Japan. Join us for a deeper exploration of this timeless classic.
Are you interested in “just” seeing this movie? Visit the public screening page here.
Cinema Classics Seminars offer an entertaining and engaging way to learn more about some of the true classics of world cinema. All students receive an introductory lecture before the film and a guided discussion after the film. In addition, those in attendance receive a ticket to see it on the big screen, as well as popcorn and a drink. Please note: the screening associated with this seminar will be open to the public, as well.
Please contact BMFI Programs and Education Manager Jill Malcolm with any questions.
$25 for members, $35 for non-members
Schedule