Seven Samurai
Acceptable with guidance. Age: 13+. A Catholic review of this movie for parents.
Our review
Bandits keep robbing a poor farming village in old Japan. The farmers hire seven samurai, who are trained warriors, to protect them. The samurai work for nothing but rice and teach the farmers to stand and fight together. It is a long black-and-white film with a lot of sword fighting and sad deaths, so it is for older teens and grown-ups. This is one of the great films about the strong laying down their lives for the weak, and the samurai get nothing for it but rice and graves. That is real virtue, and it is why the score is positive. But the film's world has no God in it. Its last word is sorrow, not hope, and your teens should hear what the Gospel adds. There is also an implied night between two unmarried young people, a captive wife who chooses death in her shame, rough subtitled language and three hours of battle. Watch it with older teens and talk afterward.
For parents
Older teens and adults. No Catholic office has classified it. Common Sense Media says thirteen plus, and that is the floor, not the target. Preview the scene where the father beats his daughter, and the raid on the bandit camp where Rikichi's wife walks back into the fire. Name that death for what it is: a tragedy born of shame, and no shame puts a person beyond mercy. The young couple sleep together before the battle. The film treats it as sad and human. Tell your teens plainly that it is still wrong, and that the girl pays the price while the boy walks away. On the fighting: defending the innocent can be 'not only a right but a grave duty' for those responsible for others' lives (CCC 2265). That is exactly what the samurai take on. Ask: why do the samurai fight for people who cannot pay them? Who really wins at the end, and why does the leader say the samurai lost? What would hope look like at those four graves if these men knew Christ?