Unity of the elements Japan and Germany met at a historical distance in a dramatic moment, almost immediately parting, to recognize the lost half of the soul. The personification of the East and the West, or at least the most expressive in their characteristic cultural features, these two powers have revealed a remarkable similarity. It was a time of active cultural exchange – Europeans first read the Tibetan Book of the Dead, Carl Jung comprehended the concepts of Buddhism in the framework of psychoanalysis, and Van Gogh opened a new stage of creativity, inspired by Japanese engravings. The Japanese, in the continuation of Westernization, are imbued with ideas of rationalism and empiricism. Ultimately forgotten are samurai swords wrapped in a kimono on the dusty altars of Buddhist temples.
After the war, perhaps the best Japanese writer Yukio Mishima, repeatedly returned to this time to find in it the possibility of harmonic refrain in the present, combining in his prose and life, the Japanese sophistication of form with the German monumentality of thought, as well as ideas of honor and ecstatic self-sacrifice common to Germans and orthodox samurai.
Mishima discovered Western civilization on a journey through the footsteps of antiquity. With the hero of the movie "Samurai Daughter", Teruo, something similar happens. But with a slight geographical correction, Mishima visited Greece itself, and Teruo spent several years in Hitler’s Germany, which regards Antiquity as an important element of European self-perception.
In both cases, the impressions are indelible. Mishima studies Thomas Mann on her return, dreams of the old order and disappears in the gym, turning herself into an antique statue. Teruo, on the rights of a layman, returns home in the company of a blonde lady-in-waiting and refuses to fulfill her birth obligations and marry a girl whom she remembers as a child. Of all the diversity of the philosophical thought of European man, he assimilated only the ideas of individualism, which neglects custom.
It is possible that, as a student, Teruo once or twice accidentally found himself in the enthusiastic midst of the Hitler Youths, or even attended the 1936 Olympics as a polite guest, involuntarily rejoicing in the triumph of the will of the hosts. It’s very likely that he’s at least watched Olympia. And his heartfelt friend Gertha, aware of the power of such influence, tactfully guides Teruo, helping him rediscover the charms of Japan.
What are the circumstances - the bride of the Japanese is played not by anyone, but by the incredible Setsuko Hara, the future prima of Yasujiro Ozu and Akira Kurosawa and the "Japanese actress N1" of the XX century. It was “Daughter of the Samurai” that became her first significant role, after which adoration comes, both in Japan and in Germany, where the entire cast was invited on the wave of the success of the film in both countries.
And that success from an 80-year distance doesn't seem to be played. For a reason, we remembered “Olympia” – the luminaries of German cinema of those years worked on “The Daughter of the Samurai”, a co-production film. The director and screenwriter from Germany, Arnold Frank, is known for discovering Leni Riefenstahl to the world, as well as being the father of the then popular Mountain Cinema. The cameraman was also involved in the visually perfect Triumph of Will. In short, the real masters of field shootings came to Japan, and in the stunning beauty of the shots, you can feel with what pleasure and trepidation they recorded on film the unique landscapes of this country. Details of the natural entourage are captured in the film with purely Japanese contemplation, worthy of the master-sophistication of Kenji Mizoguchi, distinguishing the finest plexuses that connect the movement of the soul with natural beauty. The naturalness of the cultural space is provided directly by the Japanese. In the main conflict, the same problems are immediately guessed that Ryu Akutagawa understood then in literature and Mizoguchi in cinema – this is the fear of the Japanese “sitting between two chairs”, not trusting progress in time, or, conversely, breaking too sharply with the Hermetic national tradition. We observe a kind of socio-psychological slice of Japanese society of those years - to make sure of this it is enough to read the same Mishima.
On a symbolic level, the processes of self-determination of Teruo are carried out on a scale corresponding to the ruthless, but at the same time romantic mentality of the Japanese and Germans, who for centuries lived in the shadow of the majestic mountains. The chanting of nature as the alma mater of spirit and art, in a pantheistic manner, formed the foundation and walls of these cultures. So, the experiences of the heroes are given by the creators to the power of the elements - primarily the western and eastern winds. The Japanese and Germans are compared with dormant volcanoes, and the fragile and gentle heroine of Setsuho Hara plays a decisive role in the embodiment of this allegory.
German cinema of the first half of the 20th century was particularly successful in animating symbolic spaces. Whether it’s Caligari, Metropolis, Triumph of the Will, or the Berlin Symphony, the viewer can always feel as if, together with the characters, he is traveling through the insides of a creature with consciousness and will. And in the climactic scene of "Samurai's Daughters," this effect reaches enviable authenticity. Frank finally finds himself in his native element, and clearly demonstrates that he has no equal in conveying the aesthetic potential of chiaroscuro in the smoked fractures of the mountain relief. Heroes are at the mercy of the volcano, symbolizing Japan and each Japanese individually. This is a parallel that any Japanese would readily agree with.
By this point, Herta, having had time to suffer a little with sticks and showing that in the kimono she looks premier, modestly withdraws from the proscenium. Japan has its own affairs, which it will deal with all the more successfully if it retains authenticity - such is the propaganda pathos of this picture. Even from the times in which it is customary to mask imperialist habits, it is difficult to find any trick here. And moving away from the context that isolated the “Daughter of the Samurai” in eternal maidenhood from the eyes of sinophiles, it remains to state that it is the original cinema art that appears before a few curious, interesting both in itself and as a curious example of the connection in tandem of two extremely developed cultural traditions.
8 out of 10