Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #17286 in DVD
• Released on: 2005-03-01
• Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Color, Dolby, DVD, Full length, Full Screen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 66 minutes

Customer Reviews

No Tom Cruise!! :-)
This is not an all singing, all dancing "action adventure" movie with big celebrities like Tom Cruise etc in like "The Last Samurai", but to my mind and anyone that is interested in what the Samurai were; how, when and why they came into existence, Japanese history and the importance of the Samurai Code in today's modern world, then this has to be the best documentary on the market to understand the heart, soul and spirit of the Samurai.

Presented by two of the greatest leading figures on the subject; Dave Lowry & Dr Stephen Turnbull turn what would have possibly been a dull, dry history lesson into a fascinating and colourful story. It's not just "talking heads" either, there's plenty of short clips from movies like "The Last Samurai" and "Shogun" to keep you riveted all the way through.

WARNING!! UK viewers - Please make sure that your DVD can play with Region 1 DVD's and that your TV is NTSC compatible first.

If you enjoy this do look out for NOVA's: "Secrets of the Samurai Sword" which is also a REGION 1 + NTSC DVD. This video explains the intricate details of how a Samurai sword is made from start to finish - 6 months and 15 men later.

Good; Not Great
It seems that the creators of this documentary could not decide on a target audience. I have studied Japanese history and found the contents of the documentary rather superficial. My family, however, have a rudimentary knowledge of Japanese culture and found the presentation somewhat confusing. They are not familiar with the names of Japanese historical figures or the historical significance of the battles discussed in the film, so it was a bit difficult for them to make the connections of names and places repeated throughout the commentary.

That being said, we are using the confusion of the film as motivation to learn more about the individual samurai/shogun/daimyo and the battles mentioned so that all will make sense upon our next viewing of the DVD. So, YES, it is worth watching multiple times!

Lots of data...
I am a fan of Dr. Stephen Turnbull, have many of his books, and love Japanese history and also enjoy their military history. So getting this DVD was a given. With that said, I have to warn you, this is a 44 minute DVD that should have been at least 120 minutes. They rush through Samurai culture, history and tradition at a neck break speed and they do so while being very detailed. In order to keep up you have to know a lot of Japanese history and military history to begin with. People who know nothing about the Samurai or Japanese history should start someplace else.
In other words, if you know the history you don't really need the DVD. And if you don't know the history the DVD will very likely overwhelm you with names, dates, places and so on.