Adapting Futaro Yamada’s 1967 novel, Samurai Reincarnation, writer/director Kinji Fukasaku crafts a historical fantasy which begins over 350 years ago following the Shimabara Rebellion. A revolt led to thousands of Christians being slaughtered by the Tokugawa regime, as horrifically conveyed within a display of severed heads – with many split in half to exaggerate the final total. After being resurrected, Christian rebellion leader Shiro Amakusa (Kenji Sawada) renounces God amidst this barbaric exhibition. Swearing vengeance for the slain Christians of all ages and genders, he turns to hell’s forces to commit carnage against the Shogun responsible for the massacre.
With the ability to resurrect the dead, Amakusa raises an army which includes scorned samurai wife Lady Hosokawa (Akiko Kana), unfulfilled swordsman Musashi Miyamoto (Ken Ogata), and repressed monk Inshun Hozoin (Hideo Murota). Amakusa preys on the souls of these historical figures through temptation, striking at their most vulnerable to twist them into something unrecognisable under the guise of liberation. Standing against these hellish forces is one-eyed swordsman Jubei Yagyu (an intense Sonny Chiba), steadfast in his determination to end their chaos.
As everyday people plea for tax exemption in the wake of their crops rotting away, their appeals fall on deaf ears and are responded to with casual cruelty. When their daily lives are permeated with growing injustices and a sense of hopelessness, it becomes understandable why so many turn to Beelzebub for help. This feels relevant today when more stories arise of people being taken in by hateful groups, moulded at their most vulnerable to be a pawn in devilish manipulations which lead them deeper down the rabbit hole.
Fukasaku brings a theatricality to the bloody battles, with super jumps being as vital to the fights as the effective score that represents the film’s balance of the otherworldly with samurai elements. It becomes a blast to see the devils let loose in a vortex of violence, while a beach-set battle accompanied by a flute playing is a more low-key stunner which still carries a theatrical bombast.
Eye-catching imagery is witnessed throughout, from a blood-splattered crucifix to the repeated sights of flowing lava. The latter is an effective lead-in to the final battle’s burning location, where the flames convey hellfire and the anger of those life has mistreated. While the ending does feel rushed in its execution, the message has staying power. As long as humanity exists, injustices will continue against those less powerful which are ripe for others to exploit. It is an effectively downbeat message for such an entertaining feature, wonderfully brought alive on Blu-Ray courtesy of Eureka’s Masters of Cinema series.
SAMURAI REINCARNATION is out now on MASTERS OF CINEMA Blu-Ray
James’s Archive: Samurai Reincarnation (1981)
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