Hidden Fortress

This blog is another Kurosawa film on Hidden Fortress from Thursday night's Signs and Wonders. This film takes place after a war between clans. But the story is primarily about the strange friendship between two peasants, Tahei and Matashichi. I say strange because their relationship is constantly on the flux between a seemingly tight brotherly bond, to becoming a seething backstabbing enemies, sometimes changing back and forth in the same scene. The reason that is, is basically due to their greed for gold. The greed is far greater than their friendship. In this film, they come across the defeated clans gold. Their eagerness to have it all to themselves, gets them in trouble. They become slave to the precious metal, doing all sorts of hard labor in order to keep it, and fight over it all along the way. I found it funny how the two of them wanted the gold so badly, so they could have a lazy carefree life but ironically ended up work harder than they've ever have, in order to keep it. The gold keeps slipping away and coming back, as well as their relationship. They even put their lives in danger for it. Tahei and Matashichi went through so much together but at the end, they only got to keep one bar of gold. And for the first time in the movie, they divided fairly as friends. I suppose they realized, that much gold is more hassle than it is worth.