DRAMA
JAPAN, UNITED KINGDOM · 2011
LANGUAGE: JAPANESE
COLOR · 128 MIN.
Wishing to die with dignity, Hanshiro, a samurai without resources, asks to perform the ritual suicide (Harakiri) at the residence of the Li clan, whose leader is Kageyu, a stubborn warrior. Trying to change his mind, Kageyu tells him the tragic story of Motome, a young ronin who three months earlier had arrived there with the same intentions. Fed up with the beggars, they helped him to practice Sepukku, forcing the young man to commit suicide with a Bamboo sword, since he had had to sell his real ones (the most valuable possession of a samurai) to support his family. Despite the harshness of the story, the samurai insists on the ritual suicide and asks the lord for the support of three assistants. But when the time comes, none of them appears. Curiously, they were the ones who participated in the Harakiri of the young ronin, so the lord of the house suspects the true intentions of the mysterious samurai. These intentions, related to the deceased ronin, will soon be revealed.
