The Last Samurai (2003)
Ken Watanabe: Katsumoto
Photos
Quotes
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Katsumoto : The perfect blossom is a rare thing. You could spend your life looking for one, and it would not be a wasted life.
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Katsumoto : I have introduced myself. You have introduced yourself. This is a very good conversation.
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[With his dying breath]
Katsumoto : Perfect... They are all... perfect...
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Katsumoto : The Emperor could not hear my words. His army will come. For nine hundred years, my ancestors have protected our people. Now... I have failed them.
Algren : So you will take your own life? In shame? Shame for a life of service? Discipline? Compassion?
Katsumoto : The way of the Samurai is not necessary anymore.
Algren : Necessary? What could be more necessary?
Katsumoto : I will die by the sword. My own, or my enemy's.
Algren : Then let it be your enemy's.
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Katsumoto : When I took this, you were my enemy.
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[Algren and Katsumoto ride up to Bagley, who sees that Algren has turned against him]
Colonel Bagley : Good God... Sir, the Imperial Army of Japan demands your surrender. If you and your fellas lay down your arms, you will not be harmed.
Katsumoto : This is not possible, as Mr. Omura knows.
Colonel Bagley : Captain Algren. We will show you no quarter. You ride against us, and you're the same as they are.
Algren : I'll look for you on the field.
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Katsumoto : And who was your general?
Algren : Don't you have a rebellion to lead?
Katsumoto : People in your country do not like conversation?
Algren : He was a lieutenant colonel. His name was Custer.
Katsumoto : I know this name. He killed many warriors
Algren : Oh, yes. Many warriors.
Katsumoto : So he was a good general.
Algren : No. No, he wasn't a good general. He was arrogant and foolhardy. And he got massacred because he took a single battalion against two thousand angry Indians.
Katsumoto : Two thousand Indians? How many men for Custer?
Algren : Two hundred and eleven.
Katsumoto : I like this General Custer.
Algren : He was a murderer who fell in love with his own legend. And his troopers died for it.
Katsumoto : I think this is a very good death.
Algren : Well, maybe you can have one just like it someday.
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Algren : There was once a battle at a place called Thermopylae, where three hundred brave Greeks held off a Persian army of a million men... a million, you understand this number?
Katsumoto : I understand this number.
Algren : For two days, the Greeks made them pay so dearly that the Persian army lost all taste for battle and was defeated soon after.
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Algren : What do you want?
Katsumoto : To know my enemy.
Algren : I've seen what you do to your enemies.
Katsumoto : The warriors in your country do not kill?
Algren : They don't cut the heads off defeated, kneeling men.
Katsumoto : General Hasegawa asked me to help him end his life. A samurai cannot stand the shame of defeat. I was honored to cut off his head.
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Katsumoto : Many of our customs seem strange to you. And the same is true of yours. For example, not to introduce yourself is considered extremely rude, even among enemies.
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Katsumoto : If I am no use, I will happily end my life.
Emperor Meiji : No, I need your voice in the Council.
Katsumoto : It is your voice we need, Highness. You are a living god. Do what you think is right.
Emperor Meiji : [ruefully] I am a living god, as long as I do what *they* think is right.
Katsumoto : What sad words you speak.
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Katsumoto : Well, they won't surrender.