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A simple tale in “The Hidden Blade”
By Jenny Alvarez
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From director Yamada Yoji (The Twilight Samurai) comes The Hidden Blade (a.k.a. Kakushi Ken Oni no Tsume) is the epic tale of a samurai raised to respect tradition and a demanding moral code. After a political coup fails he is ordered to prove his innocence by finding and killing a former friend, samurai and brilliant swordsman. He secretly enlists the help of their former master who entrusted him with the secret of The Hidden Blade. Now he must choose between duty and honor.
Definitely, is a Yamada’s delicate drama with swordplay with the mythic ideal of the samurai culture so in the main characters with their personalities reflect bravery and loyalty in themes of evolution and change and how it affected the traditional Japanese lifestyle while also learning new military strategies, particularly the mastery of Western artillery, during the mid-19th Century. Munezo (Masatoshi Nagase) also has a personal complication. He is secretly in love–so secretly, he may not even admit it to himself–with his family’s maid, the sweet and beautiful country girl, Kie (Takako Matsu). His passion leads him to rescue her from a loveless marriage after she leaves his household; the samurai even shocks propriety by carrying away the low-caste young woman on his back. The cast is impressive Masatoshi Nagase, Takako Matsu and Hidetaka Yoshioka are the most talented actors in this genre. Many takes are full of action so this movie is one of those that are worth watching so you can get it on June 19th in DVD and blu-ray with Japanese: Dolby TrueHD 5.1, Cantonese: Dolby Digital 2.0 with subtitles in Mandarin (Traditional), English and Spanish.
