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The Last Samurai is a
film released in the United States on
December 5,
2003. It is set in
1870s
Japan and stars:
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Tom Cruise as Nathan Algren, an
American Civil War veteran
-
Ken Watanabe as
samurai lord Katsumoto
- Masato Harada as industrialist and pro-reform politician Omura
- Shichinosuke Nakamura as
Emperor Meiji of Japan
The film's plot is loosely based on the
1877
Satsuma Rebellion led by
Saigo Takamori, and also on the story of
Jules Brunet, a French army captain who fought alongside
Enomoto Takeaki in the
Boshin War.
Algren goes to Japan to help the new Meiji government train its first
Western-style army. He leads the army into battle with Katsumoto's men, is
routed and captured, and learns the way of the samurai from his
imprisonment in Katsumoto's isolated village. The movie's
climax occurs as a rebel
cavalry charge is stopped by
Gatling guns.
Although many of the film's cast members are Japanese, the production
crew is entirely American, and most of the movie was filmed in
New Zealand.
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