Hitokiri is a disturbing (at least to me) movie released in 1968 by
Hideo Gosha. It was subsequently released in 1970 as Tenchu (Heaven's Punishment) in the US.
Takechi Hanpei lead the Tosa Samurais against the Shogunate.Some of the main characters of the movie,
Tanaka Shinbei and
Okada Izō, were based on actual Japanese historic figures, with the latter being the main protagonist.
Hitori literally means "assassins or killer" in English and these characters were based on the exploit of the famous
Four Hitokiri of the Bakumatsu.
In the movie, the main character, Okada Izō, is potrayed as a faithful dog that does the bidding of the master until he realised that the master has turned against him.
The first ever rebellious words uttered by Okada Izō against his master, Takechi Hanpei .The movie invoked pity for the central character when it was revealed that he seek to win the heart of an aristocrat woman by killing as many people as possible for the "Tosa cause", thus his blinding loyalty to
Takechi Hanpei.
Okada Izō gets his redemption and revenge.In the beginning, it took me a while to get use to the way this movie was presented. As the story unfolded, one start to understand the madness. Understanding a little bit of the Japanese history does help to put things in perspective. All in all, it was an enjoyable movie... :-)
More Information:
