The Hidden Fortress

If you didn't know, I've been on a samurai movie kick lately. I've been watching a lot of movies that influenced Quentin Tarantino in his films Kill Bill: Vol. 1 and Kill Bill: Vol. 2. It's been an interesting ride to say the least. The Hidden Fortress is another film directed by the legendary director Akira Kurosawa and also happens to be in the Criterion Collection. The plot details the escape of Princess Yuki (Misa Uehara) and General Rokurota Makabe (Toshirô Mifune) after their clan has been decimated by a neighboring clan. Along the way, they run into two greedy peasants who are on a search for legendary gold that was hidden somewhere in the burned out castle. The peasants lend some Three Stooges-esque comedy to the film as the princess and general try to make them cooperate. I may be exagerating on this, but it also seems like the two peasants are made to be bumbling fools just because they're peasants. I don't know if this is made to fit with the time period the film was made or maybe it's this way just because. The more "noble" characters in the story do seem to be the ones making all the decisions, have all the wit and able to be capable leaders. All in all, I think this was another decent film. Not amazing or awesome, just good. I gave it a 3/5 on netflix. Worth watching if you consider yourself a movie fan.