Hidden Fortress

Apparently, George Lucas is completely insane.

The entire reason that I rented this film was because it is said to be the inspiration for Star Wars. I am not exactly sure how Lucas came up with the idea for Star Wars from this film, but whatever I guess. In the scheme of things, I don’t think it matters.

Hidden Fortress is a good movie. Granted, it is old, back from 1956 I believe. Also, it is in Japanese with delightful subtitles. Despite these limitations the story is very entertaining. All of the characters are one dimensional enough that you don’t get hung up on their character development, as it is much more about the interactions of the characters.

The story follows a couple of peasant from one kind of city state thing. The two other provinces are warring to the north of them, so they decide that can get rich in the war so they sell their homes in order to buy equipment to join in the fight. Unfortunately, they show up late, and are assumed to belong to the losing side. So, they get stripped of their equipment and are forced to dig graves for the dead.

Then, they escape somehow and begin to wander in a desert region. Ultimately, they both decided to return home going their separate ways. Of course, they both get captured and are once again forced to dig. Except this time they are searching for hidden gold. Eventually, all the captives rise up on defeat their captures. In the middle of the up rise they both cower in a corner.

They notice enough and say, “let’s die together.” Moments later they release that the battle passed them by and the flee the fortress.

While they are wondering around, trying to figure out how to get past the border to return to their homeland the discover a piece of gold in a stick. So their greed gets the best of them and they start cracking open all the stick all over the place.

They ending meeting some guy, and explain their plan. The rest of the movie basically follows them as they go with the princess of the defeated clan as they infiltrate enemy territory to get to the lower province. Many adventures ensue, and they pick up a couple of travelers on the their way.

If you are a fan of movies, and you want to see this movie that is apparently the foundation of Star Wars, you should check it out. However, if you don’t care about any of that it is still a good film that stands well on its own.