I've watched a few westerns, and I can't say I really like any of them, mainly because the "good" guy is not really very good. It seems you're just supposed to consider him the hero because he's the main character of the story, even though his morals and actions are as messed up as everyone else's. In this story, I think Saburo is a hero completely worth admiring. He says he will do things for money, but as Kayla pointed out, he is not greedy: he gave away a lot of money to Nui's family. He does say it will be fun to fight the bad guys, but I don't see any problem with that. To fight evil is a good thing, so enjoy it.
There is one thing that Saburo does that bothered me: he didn't have any problem with lying. He even tried to deceive the old man into thinking that he wasn't a kind person. What was the point of that? Some would call it humility, but you don't need to be fake to be humble.
Lastly, on a different note, I loved the look of the cast of this movie. Many of the characters have such different silhouettes and stances, and are easily recognized from far away. The tiny constable, the bent over restaurant owner, the giant (obviously), the fat Ino. I just thought that was really cool.
Yes, the variety of characters was great!
ReplyDeleteAs for the lying part...I agree with you -- I don't consider that to be humility. In fact, I think Sanjuro is pretty selfish, despite the fact that yes, he does give away the money. Nevertheless, that doesn't stop him from being the hero.