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Yet another of the movies from my Kurosawa class, Hidden Fortress is one of the most accessible to a general audience, especially since it served as an influence on George Lucas' for his Star Wars franchise. In this story, two bumbling and greedy peasants accidentally discover some gold, which happens to belong to a princess. She and a general of hers (Mifune) have been hiding out in a hidden fortress in the mountains and plan to sneak around/past enemy lines into allied territory with the gold, and the peasants are tricked into helping.

What I appreciated about this movie was that it didn't take itself so seriously. So many of the movies we watched in the class were dramas, and it was awesome to take a break and see what Kurosawa could do with comedy/adventure. The point of view is that of the peasants, who are the least in the know about what is happening around them. The ways they respond to their situations and to each other are what make the movie work. I think for a lot of Kurosawa's work I tend to feel a bit detached from the protagonists. I'm still trying to reason out exactly why. In this movie, as well as Seven Samurai, there just seems to be more heart, which makes me feel more invested in the characters and what happens to them.

And the peasants aren't the only memorable characters. The princess and the general are impressive on their own. The princess doesn't want to reveal who she is, so she pretends to be deaf and mute. Once she finally does start talking, I was thankful for the many minutes of muteness, because she had a shrew's voice if I ever heard one.

With so many movies floating around in my head that need to be reviewed, I wish I had more details to add about this movie. It really is one of my favorite Kurosawa movies because it combines all of the right elements to make an entertaining, funny, well-constructed movie.