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Summerbuzz
Guest
Tickling all my fancies again Tolmie.
Brings to mind the final scene of Kagemusha (stupidly good and always recommended movie).
The Battle Of Nagashino, 1575. The Takeda clan, with their dominant cavalry, charge Nobunaga's forces.
But Nobunaga - the first great 'Unifier' of Japan, had equipped his men with the new technological breakthrough - Rifles - and thus the Takeda clan are wiped out in a few minutes.
Our last shot is of the disgraced 'Kagemusha' of the title. A theif, employed by the Takeda as a decoy double for their great Lord Shingen. When Shingen dies unexpectedly, the elite employ the Kagemusha to hide this fact from everyone. But this man was just an actor. Without the personality and acumen of the man himself, the Takeda are doomed as his sons and other officers struggle personally with the burden of living in the shadow of their departed Lord, entering into this disastrous series of vainglorious battles. The man running across the battlefield here is the decoy, who had been summarily dismissed and humiliated by those who employed him before the fateful battle.
The banner in the water at the end is decorated with the Shingen clan's Motto, and reads 'Swift as the wind... Quiet as a forest... Fierce as fire... Immovable as a mountain' - referring to the Lord they lost at the start of the film.
Two thoughts: One: Never bring a knife to a gun fight. And two, never pretend to be someone else for appearance's sake. An average indie-rock band is more likely to change the world than the best Beatles tribute act. So be yourself.
Ahhh... I just love that quote. The seasons turn, and so do the years. The sun shines, the clouds form, the rains fall, and the rivers flow back to the sea. The mightiest can be undone because they didn't read the conditions brought on very predictably by the weather. Napoleon, the Emporer, undone by soggy ground at Waterloo. Hitler's sending the Wehrmacht deeper and deeper into Russia to pursue a rapid victory, where they became stuck without equipment or clothing to cope with the onset of Winter, allowing Stalin time to ramp up production until he had completely overwhelming forces that chased the Nazi's all the way back to Berlin, where the last few were squashed.