gordon-31

The film appears to be fairly accurate historically. Mifune portrays Hideyoshi who was the great war-lord who unified Japan. After accomplishing that he solves the problem of what to do with his great but idle army by attacking Korea. He also hates Christians because they put God above Hideyoshi.

So that sets the scene for great pomp and gore. Very interesting sets and costumes. Hideyoshi was a great follower of the tea ceremony and that is shown as well as his all gold tea room. All in all he was a terrible despot.

This is a very important film for Kurosawa and expresses the deep concern felt by Japanese liberals when the military took over Japan in the 1930's. The Thought Police arrested anyone who did not totally support the military and the War in China. People were afraid to express their thoughts even to close friends.

Thought control was complete in Japan and the Japanese people believed they were winning the war until the very end. All the news sources available only told of great victories even though great defeats were taking place.

It was a terrible time for liberals until the Americans occupied Japan. They quickly shut down the Thought Police and allowed freedom of thought and expression for the first time in over a decade. That is what Kurosawa is telling us about.