Sunday, 30 November 2014

Ansatsu
[The Assassin;
The Assassination]
(1964)

RATING:80%
FORMAT:DVD

Territorial Demands

Within its own cultural limitations, this movie succeeds in being a highly politicized tale of the Japanese response to the arrival of American Whites in 1853 - making unreasonable territorial demands.

The inherent xenophobia of the Japanese characters is tempered by realpolitik as the Tokugawa Shogunate granting the foreigners’ demands. This leads to internal political strife (almost a civil war) between those who demand Emperor Worship and the more practical who realise swords cannot beat firearms. Assassination becomes a political tool of both sides in this well-shot and stately film.

Dying for the Emperor (ie, death worship) is a poor substitute for rational thought and the booklet included with this DVD is necessary prior-reading to make any sense of what goes on in this (to Occidentals, at least) often bizarre Oriental culture.

Copyright © 2013 Frank TALKER. Permission granted to reproduce and distribute it in any format; provided that mention of the author’s Weblog (http://franktalker5.blogspot.com) is included: E-mail notification requested. All other rights reserved.
Posted by Frank TALKER™ at 14:20
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Science:



No science is immune to the infection of politics and the corruption of power.



Jacob Bronowski… (1908 - 74), British scientist, author. Encounter (London, July 1971).


Sleep of Reason:



The dream of reason produces monsters. Imagination deserted by reason creates impossible, useless thoughts. United with reason, imagination is the mother of all art and the source of all its beauty.



Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes… (1746-1828), Spanish painter. Caption to Caprichos, number 43, a series of eighty etchings completed in 1798, satirical and grotesque in form.


Humans & Aliens:



I am human and let nothing human be alien to me.



Terence… (circa 190-159 BC), Roman dramatist. Chremes, in The Self-Tormentor [Heauton Timorumenos], act 1, scene 1.


Führerprinzip:



One leader, one people, signifies one master and millions of slaves… There is no organ of conciliation or mediation interposed between the leader and the people, nothing in fact but the apparatus - in other words, the party - which is the emanation of the leader and the tool of his will to oppress. In this way the first and sole principle of this degraded form of mysticism is born, the Führerprinzip, which restores idolatry and a debased deity to the world of nihilism.



Albert Camus… (1913-60), French-Algerian writer & philosopher. The Rebel: An Essay on Man in Revolt: New York: Vintage Books, (1984; page 182.)