Recently, I watched Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai for the first time. I’ve long been aware of Kurosawa’s reputation as one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, and that Seven Samurai is often seen as his magnum opus, but only in the past few years have I actually begun to engage with his work.

Having now seen the film, I feel it deserves every bit of praise it has ever received. Its storytelling, cinematography, acting, and themes all hold up extremely well. The word “timeless” is thrown around often, but little to nothing about Seven Samurai feels dated in its presentation, and that helped me to understand why this was such a pivotal work in the history of film. Given that this is one of the most discussed movies of all time, there’s not much (if anything) I can add to the conversation. Nevertheless, I still want to say something.

Seven Samurai is set in feudal Japan, where a poor farming village is the victim of bandits. Left with next to nothing, a group of villagers go into the city to try to hire a samurai to protect them from the next impending raid. However, most samurai are either too expensive to hire, and most of the ones who would be okay with merely receiving food as payment aren’t exactly the best. But when they see one samurai go to great lengths to rescue a girl being held hostage, they know he’s the one. After some desperate pleading, this veteran agrees to help, but he must first gather six other capable allies if they have any chance of repelling the bandits. 

Reading about Seven Samurai, I’ve come to learn that it is not just any film about bringing the band together—it is the film. While there are precedents in other forms of media (notably the Chinese classic Water Margin and its whopping 108 heroes), it is the grandfather of this ever-popular genre in cinema, and shines strongly against its descendants after all these years. The utterly unique personalities of all seven warriors, and the ebb and flow of harmony and discord created by their interactions amidst the mission at hand is just amazing. That influence can be felt in the fact that its characters and their archetypes are still referenced in media to this day, like the stoic (yet deceptively kind) figure dedicated solely to his swordsmanship, the young noble who wishes to be one of the down-and-dirty heroes so unlike his upbringing, and the brash and bearded rebel who eschews all the etiquette and formality of the elite.

The only thing that makes the film feel of an entirely different time is its portrayal of women, which reminds me more of Golden Age Hollywood with its dramatic closeups of fluttering eyelashes and the like, as well as the relatively reductive roles of the female actresses.

If anyone is daunted by the age of Seven Samurai or its 3 ½ hour run time, don’t be. It doesn’t require its viewer to be a dedicated student of cinema or to have a particular fondness for the classics. Kurosawa’s most famous film remains compelling, exciting, and filled with important messages about how things are achieved through mutual aid and cooperation.

“This is the nature of war. By protecting others, you save yourself. If you only think of yourself, you’ll only destroy yourself.”