Rebel Lord Murashige has a lot on his mind. He’s the leader of Settsu people-while himself a foreigner to them-barricaded in the Arioka Castle along with them. There they are waiting for reinforcements from other people. They are vastly outnumbered against the famous Oba Nubunaga and his ruthless warring campaign. Not to mention strange goings ons that can fall into the category of “Divine Punishments” are occurring inside the castle. They’re uncanny deaths and murders. Lord Murashige also must be keen and wary of others scheming and plotting against him, for it is possible that Oba has spies already in the castle.  He must use cunning and if possible break the code of the samurai to gain an advantage-even if everyone hates him for doing so to come out ahead. He’s going to use-compassion to defeat the opposing warlord, a strategy that wins him no favors from his subordinates. The Samurai code they follow is to never take a prisoner, Lord Murashige breaks this code for he sees something useful in keeping a militant strategist from the Nobunaga envoy, Kanbei. But can Lord Murashige trust the prisoner with what he will tell him? Can the prisoner be trusted? It is a battle of wits, a chess game of intelligence afoot- for Lord Murashige seeks consultation and advance from the prisoner from the eerily murders and assistance in combating the Nubunaga campaign. The result is a wonderful tapestry of complex story telling in a simple concept. It is a rich, thorough setting. This is masterful filmmaking. 

The colors are muted and rich at the same time.  The story is broken up by the seasons and title cards with a deserving ending, the right ending for it. There is a sense of epic but it is also intimate and delicate. The scheming and planning and attempting to decipher all the actions laid out keeps the viewers always guessing and glued in. It’s compelling. 

There is a film score but doesn’t come until much later in the film and feels out of place. Overall it is void of music, thus it keeps its solemn temperate thorough out. Who can you trust and can you trust what you are seeing? There is a series of mysteries to solve, but the story really is about breaking codes, breaking protocols, breaking conduct not to just win the war, but to win a war without warring. 

“The Samurai and The Prisoner” is great historical fiction, and a great epic. The editing in this is one of the best of the year. Every camera choice is the right one. Every line is the right one. There should be some oscar nominations coming its way for technical categories. There is no wasted scene, or wasted line of dialogue. The acting is sensational and production design is beyond outstanding. It captivating and it knows it, and the most crucial thing is that is does not out smart it self its just plain great filmmaking. 9/10