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The Last Samurai
2003 · Director: Edward Zwick · US
What it is about
An American officer captured in 19th-century Japan is drawn into a samurai rebellion.
The fighting in it
The cast went through months of kendo and kenjutsu training under Japanese teachers, and it shows in the bokken work. The character Katsumoto is loosely based on Saigō Takamori and the 1877 Satsuma Rebellion, though the film compresses several historical layers into one.
Martial arts in the film
The film details have not yet been checked against a primary source.