Bushido and The Last Samurai: What Can We Learn from the Film?

The Way of the Warrior", or "Bushido", has served as the code of the Samurai since time immemorial. In the movie, The Last Samurai, Captain Nathan Algren (played by Tom Cruise), learns much about the Samurai and their code. There are many lessons that Algren is able to take away from the Samurai and apply to his own life. In fact, there are many lessons that even today's society can glean from the Samurai and their way of life, "the Way of the Warrior".

One can even say that the very character of Captain Algren transforms due to Samurai and their influence. The point could also be made that the concept of Bushido, even though it has been largely forgotten about in today's world, can still serve as a valuable lesson, and that this film can definitely teach us some interesting elements about the Samurai culture of the past.

At the beginning of the movie, one sees that Cruise portrays an arrogant attitude towards his life and his surroundings. Upon entering the Samurai village and living with the Samurai, Cruise changes many of his outlooks on life. In the early scenes of the movie, one can see that Algren has little respect for his commander and leaders. However, the Samurai teach him loyalty and respect. Algren also comes to realize that money has little importance in the scheme of life.

Remember that in the beginning of the movie, Algren requested a large sum of money in order to act as an instructor to the Japanese army. In the beginning of the movie, Algren is a character who puts little value in his own life. One can judge this from the way in which he treats himself and his alcoholism. However, after living with the Samurai, Algren comes to put a larger value on his own life, he also comes to understand that if one does something worth meaning, no matter how trivial to others, life has meaning.

It is this revelation that enables Algren to change everything he has known. He changes his ways of the past and becomes something much more than he was before. Perhaps this is one of the most important elements of the film. The film shows not only the evolution of a human being, but the fact of what this concept really meant for the Samurai, one truly has to change and evolve and move beyond the sins of the past if they are to become a functioning member of the world at large.

In the same way that the "way of the warrior" has much to teach Cruise and his character of Captain Algren, so can society learn a great deal from the "way of the warrior". Society, as a whole, can learn not to judge people, the Samurai are accepting, and show Algren mercy when he is captured. Also, remember that the Japanese government greatly misjudged the Samurai. One of the most important lessons that society can come to understand from the Samurai is that it can be worth it to try and achieve perfection.

After they capture him, the Samurai have all of the opportunity in the world to simply kill Algren. However, even though they can, they spare his life and make him one of their own, including training him. Perhaps this single act alone shows more of the power of the Samurai than does anything else throughout the film. Anyone can react in violence in hate, it takes true strength to forgive and to learn that we all have our faults.

All in all, Algren comes to learn much from the Samurai, and there can be no doubt that he applies those lessons to his own life. So, in the same way, it can be said that Society as a whole can also learn much from the Samurai and their way of life. Although we do not often think of learning from the past in such a direct manner, it is sometimes necessary that we take a step back and learn that different cultures and different time periods also have valuable information.

In this case, it seems that Bushido has been something which has been virtually forgotten about in the modern world. While we often come to think of Bushido only in terms of the violence that it represents, there is far more to the term, and far more that we can learn about and gather influence from than the simple act of fighting.