The Last of Samurai

Black and white biopic of Kondo Isami, the head of a rural school of swordsmanship who became the legendary leader of the Shinsengumi. The Shinsengumi were a special police force acting on behalf of the last Tokugawa shogun during the Meiji Restoration era. Full of action and pathos, the film begins with the infamous and bloody Ikedaya Affair and ends with Kondo's final battle with the Shinsengumi, fighting the Imperialists who would go on to end two and a half centuries of Tokugawa rule. —Joseph A. Hedger