Commander

Was the movie the Last Samuri based on actual events?

Belisarius

Only in as much as Braveheart and The Patriot can be said to have been "based" on actual events. Something along those lines did happen in 19th Century Japan. But not a lot like the film. FYI the last European given Samurai status by the Japanese was a Scotsman, Thomas Blake Glover, who died in 1911.

Salah

The events of this movie were based - very loosely, at best - on the rebellion of Saigo Takamori, who led the Satsuma Rebellion of 1877. The rebellion was effectively crushed at the Battle of Ueno on the 4th of July, which might have - very, very superficially - resembled the final battle in the movie.

If I recall correctly, the non-native samurai who rode with Saigo/"Katsumoto" was a Frenchman.

Incidentally, there was a great figure in samurai history named Katsumoto. Katsumoto Hosokawa was a general in the Onin War in the late 15th Century; in 1493 he deposed the Ashikaga Shogun Yo****ane.

Kampfringen

The Last Samurai was based on Dances with wolves. LOL
So was Avatar. Same story, rinse and repeat, blah, blah ,blah....
They all propagate the idea of the "noble savage" LOL

Belloc

The Japanese army was largely modelled off the German army, so there probably were not American advisors in Japan at that time.

tjadams

That was my understanding from day one as well, its been a long time. And yes, I do recall something about the part of T. Cruise as relating to a Frenchmen in the service of the shogunate.

Enlil-An

I don't know the events in Japan surrounding this movie but since it is nothing more than a big rip off of Dances With Wolves, Glory, and Braveheart all at once, I'd say it's safe to assume it's just another anti-Western propoganda piece.

Side note: From what I was reading on Wikipedia (I know, I know), the concept of the ninja as portrayed in the film is a completely modern invention mostly propelled by video games.

Salah

Indeed. Assassins - properly called shinobi - were depicted in Japanese plays wearing black to symbolize their invisibility.

beorna

I havn't seen it as anti-western. For ninja perhaps you can join http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e4351.html .
The movie is a typical hollywood movie. Historical is mixed with fiction.
Of course you can identify Captain Aldren with Jules Brunet, but he did not support Saigo Takamori but the Shogunat troops of Tokugawa Yoshibune in the Boshin war from 1868 to 69. so Brunet was joining neither the Tenno's army nor those of Saigo-san.
Saigo did not die in the battle of Kumamoto, where he lost nearly his whole army of 40.000 men against a superior emperors army of 300.000 but a few time later in the battle of Shiroyama, where he asked,after an injury, to be headed by a kaishaku-nin.

Enlil-An

It can't be anything else. This film is about the West and the East competing for the soul of Japan. In it, the West is obviously bad and the East is obviously good.