roeschter

I'm a history affectionado and had all but given up on TV programs, but Andrew Marr brought me back to the screen. This is the mostly brilliant, concise presentation of world history and more importantly the history of world culture I have ever come across. Andrew Marrs presents a well balanced collection of pivotal moments in human history, up to date with current historical and archaeological knowledge. And more importantly presents and links those event to the important cultural changes which shape are modern view of the world. Highly recommendable for children and adults alike and even if you know history this might once in while give you a new insight. Effectively a history lecture filmed on location it does, as far as I can see present all historical facts correctly while a global perspective is maintained. The tone is surprisingly intellectual and neutral and Andrew Marr presents Asian, Indian, Arabic and European history in well balanced episodes with only minimal use of drama and suspense owed to the medium.

Watch it, buy it, show to your children (I will once mine are old enough), this will be a classic of humanities education. Teachers, use it in school, there is no school book, which can compare with this program to show the central themes of human history.

Get a 10/10. Surely not comparable to a Hollywood blockbuster in special effects and acting but it 100% achieves its mission, telling human history and culture in context.

A nice and very sentimental film about love and live in Tokyo displayed before the background of a power failure on the night of Dec 23rd in Tokyo. The theme is not new, nor is the implementation in the form of intertwining story lines. Despite the obvious lack of new ideas the result is quite pleasing. What you can expect are a set of nicely displayed characters acting in a calm atmosphere of people suddenly coming to rest from there busy lives due the breakdown of public live after the power failure. Unlike contemporary American movies there are few melodramatic moments. The stories told do not really climax and typical for Japanese storytelling have an ambivalent ending with only one happy end and some open threads, which are up for the audience to conclude. Characters displayed are a nice sample of Tokyo life, having so much in common with the people I meet every day in this crazy town that I felt immediately comfortable with the setting. The acting is good, which in this case means it is hardly noticeable and the characters are very believable. Every character in the movies has to clean up a bit of his love life, finally realizing that relationships have ended, accepting facts of live that have changed or tying up threads of live from a remote past. We are mostly told about old love and shattered illusions. New love is only hinted on and it adds to the overall mood of the film that the audience is left to imagine where it might lead to.

I watched the the film on a flight back from Tokyo on Dec 23rd, which is the day of the year the plot of the film is supposed to take place on. Being in a bit of a sentimental Christmas mood the film did not fail to show the intended effect on me.

Many people have pointed out that Last Samurai has a doubtful message with regard to the social and political background of 1870s Japan. I recommend to watch "Twilight Samurai(Tasogare Seibei)" to fill that gap. I gives you a much better impression of the Samurais role and status in the 1870s then the "romantic" Hollywood version in Last Samurai. And by the way. Watch Master and Commander for a really good film about history ...