Ahsoka Episode 4 Pays Amazing Tribute To One Of George Lucas' Biggest Inspirations
This article contains spoilers for "Ahsoka" episode 4, "Fallen Jedi."
"I grew up in a small town in northern California," George Lucas once related during a 2001 interview for the Criterion Collection's edition of Akira Kurosawa's "The Hidden Fortress." "The movie theatres there didn't show much more than 'Bridge on the River Kwai' and 'The Blob.' So I didn't really experience foreign films until I found my way into film school. At that point is when I was exposed to Kurosawa. A friend of mine, John Milius, was actually a huge fan of Kurosawa's, so whenever a film was showing, he'd say, 'Oh, you gotta come see this.' The first one I saw was 'Seven Samurai,' and then after that I was completely hooked. I said, 'This is really good.'"
In order to understand the DNA of "Star Wars," one must understand the film DNA of Kurosawa — specifically, his classic epic "Seven Samurai." As George Lucas's favorite Kurosawa film, it shows up a lot in the world of "Star Wars." There were flourishes of "Seven Samurai" from the very beginning of our favorite far away galaxy, but the latest episode of "Ahsoka" pays some of the most direct homages we've seen in "Star Wars" since the first season of "The Mandalorian."
Kyuzo the master swordsman
In "Seven Samurai," there's a striking scene very early on in the film. The farmers have gone to hire samurai to protect their village and they've found one who agrees to help them in the form of Kambei Shimada (Takashi Shimura.) He says he'll need at least seven samurai to defend the village capably and goes on the hunt for some that are willing to take the job despite the meager pay in nothing but millet. In his travels, he comes across a duel being fought between two samurai in a field. On one side is an arrogant and loud samurai, and on the other side is an understated, quiet master. The quiet master is Kyuzo (Seiji Miyaguchi), who doesn't boat about his skill in any way.
He and the other samurai exchange positions in their duel, each slowly deciding what they want their stance to be. The loud samurai charges and like a flash, Kyuzo slashes him across the chest with a wooden sword. Naturally, the loser calls it a draw, but Kyuzo explains calmly that he won. Outraged, the loser challenges him to a real duel with real swords and real stakes. Kambei shakes his head, pitying such a waste.
Kyuzo has a mastery of the sword that is unmatched and you can barely see it because he's so fast. The loser charges Kyuzo and loses his life in the process.
This fight is mirrored both in shot choice and choreography during "Ahsoka" episode 4, "Fallen Jedi," giving us a view of the mastery Ahsoka Tano (Rosario Dawson) has with a lightsaber. It's matched with the fact that she only deigns to fight her opponent, the Inquisitor Marrok (played on-set by Paul Darnell), with one saber instead of two. Watch the way the camera lets the fight unfold and how it plays out, and you'll quickly realize it's a beautiful recreation of Kyuzo's pivotal duel.
Twin Suns
This isn't the first time a thematic and visual synthesis of this fight has been brought into "Star Wars" either. In the "Star Wars Rebels" episode "Twin Suns," Obi-Wan Kenobi has his final face-off with Darth Maul, proving his quiet, deliberate mastery of the Force and saber combat against Lord Maul's showy moves. It is spiritually a similar moment that happened earlier in the "Star Wars" timeline, bolstering that difference between a true master and an attack dog.
This isn't the only time "Star Wars" has explicitly referenced "Seven Samurai." There was an entire episode of "The Clone Wars" called "Bounty Hunters" that pit a number of bounty hunters, as well as Anakin Skywalker and Ahsoka, in the same position as the samurai in Kurosawa's epic. The fourth episode of "The Mandalorian" season 1, titled "Sanctuary," plays with the exact same plot as well, going so far as to make the settlements on the planet Sorgan look a whole lot like the rice paddy villages Kurosawa constructed as a backdrop to the action and story in "Seven Samurai."
Even George Lucas included flourishes of "Seven Samurai" in his "Star Wars" films. My favorite is how one of Kambei Shimada's character quirks — rubbing his head while deep in thought — was recreated by Yoda in "Revenge of the Sith."
The homages to "Seven Samurai" in "Fallen Jedi" didn't stop at Ahsoka and Marrok's duel, though. There were a number of other flourishes that made the episode sing with references to the Kurosawa classic.
Other flourishes
The first and most notable flourishes were the notes of music in the "Fallen Jedi" opening title screen, which were reminiscent of the score Kurosawa commissioned for "Seven Samurai." Listen to it again and you can almost close your eyes and hear the influence. Another moment I quite liked is when Ahsoka and Sabine (Natasha Liu Bordizzo) light off into the forest to take the map back. It has all the energy of the moment in "Seven Samurai" where Kyuzo vows to take the guns from the bandits in the film. He turns and races into the forest at full tilt, just as Ahsoka and Sabine do here.
The other big one is actually in the character relationships. Ahsoka and Sabine seem to share a similar master-apprentice relationship to Kambei Shimada and the incredibly young and naive samurai Katsuhiro (Isao Kimura) in Kurosawa's film. Katsuhiro gets into trouble because of his relationships and is terribly naive about the larger battle in the film, and there are glimmers of that in Ahsoka and Sabine's interactions.
"'Seven Samurai' is really my favorite," Lucas confirmed in that same Criterion Collection interview. "Then maybe 'Yojimbo,' then maybe 'Ikiru,' then maybe after that it's 'The Hidden Fortress.' It's not at the top of my list, but I was impressed and I liked it."
If its influence on "Star Wars" and such a sterling recommendation from the master Lucas himself isn't enough, just be sure to watch "Seven Samurai" for yourself. It's a masterpiece and a classic for a reason, and it's going to continue to influence "Star Wars" for generations to come. Watch "Yojimbo," "Ikiru," and "The Hidden Fortress," too. You won't be disappointed and you'll find moments from all of them in your favorite far away galaxy.
New episodes of "Ahsoka" premiere on Tuesday nights on Disney+ at 6:00pm Pacific, 9:00pm Eastern.