cwente2
I have to disagree with you. I think the clear implication is that he plans to kill himself.
He endures the humiliation out of a sense of duty. He MUST finish the bridge, and if the only way he can is to be shamed in the process, he is willing to do it. He knows that the story of what happened will eventually reach his superiors. By killing himself according to the Bushido Code, he will regain his, and more importantly, his family's honor.
He only talks about having to kill himself when he is still trying to get Nicholson to back down and allow the officers to work. He still hopes he can succeed on his own terms, and he mentions this as a last-ditch effort to appeal to Nicholson. Once Saito gives in however, his fate is sealed.
As far as his just writing a letter home, there are several problems with this theory.
1) Saito is a modern man who enjoys his comforts. He works at a desk and writes on paper. He sits on a chair at a western-style dining table when he eats, and prefers scotch to saki. However, in the scene you speak of, he is kneeling at a chabudai (not sitting, but kneeling). The "letter" is indeed a scroll, not composition paper, with the message written in very large characters. It was common for a warrior to write a "death poem" before committing suicide. If he was just writing a letter home, I would think he'd sit comfortably at his desk and write it.
2)The knife is not just a knife, it's a tanto, which accompanies the samurai sword, and is traditionally used for committing suicide. You see in the scene how he slowly removes the tanto from it's sheath, stares at the blade for a moment, carefully sets the sheath back down, and them cuts off a lock of hair and affixes it to the scroll. Locks of hair are given as tokens of remembrances, and the fact that he used the tanto, rather than a pair of scissors, to remove the hair is symbolic.
3) He places the tanto into the inside pocket of his uniform jacket. Why would he want to take it with him the next day?
The first time you hear the train whistle, Saito looks around nervously, then takes the tanto out of his jacket. he doesn't look happy or relieved at the arrival of the train, he looks scared. He's also standing off alone, away from everyone.
Perhaps Saito is just preparing himself in case something goes wrong, and he can just kill himself over the final humiliation. But I feel he planned to wait until the train crossed, and then once his duty had been fulfilled, take his life on the bridge, the object of his shame.
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cwente2
12 years ago
A very well-reasoned post, and you made several points I had not considered previously. Persuasive -- but not persuasive enough for me. Not out of stubbornness I assure you, though that's a failing of mine exercised more often than it ought to be. Not here, however.
Essentially, I just don't believe there is sufficient set-up by the producers, or sufficient follow-up (dramatically) for an audience to be expected to "get that idea". Saito's contemplation of suicide, For some viewers such as yourself, is a viable conclusion to draw, however -- which you have explained quite well, as I said. Comes down to that eternal "subjective" decision-making we all must do when viewing a complex picture like BOTRK. . . In the final analysis though, I think either choice provides a sufficient reward for the chooser -- and to each his own.
Thanks much.
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gottfrid
12 years ago
in terms of acting and direction, it was pretty obvious saito was preparing for suicide.
he wrote those things, cut a lock of his hair, and had the knife hidden inside his jacket. then he took the knife with him and assumed a very suspicious behaviour while with nicholson inspecting the bridge.
"It doesn't matter what Bram Stoker has told you... dead people don't come back from their graves"
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bobcat41702
12 years ago
... and in yet another moment of irony (in a film filled with irony), Saito dies the honorable death of a warrior when Joyce stabs and kills him.
... there has been technological advancement, but how little man himself has changed.
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bradford-1
11 years ago
When Nicholson is pulling at the wire, he asks Saito if he has a knife he can cut it with, but Saito fumbles with his jacket pocket, seemingly forgetting he DOES have a knife. Then Joyce comes up behind him and ZAP. I've never been able to figure out Saito's hesitation.
"May I bone your kipper, Mademoiselle?"
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PunishU
11 years ago
I think everyone has basically finalized the notion that Col. Saito had plans to gain back reasonable honour but as to why he hesitated, it might've been that he didn't expect to use this ritual knife to take another person's life despite him being used to do so.
Also, would it be dishonourable to stab one's self with a knife that was just used to end another sorry bastard's life so suddenly or would that had even mattered?
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Kawada_Kira
10 years ago
I blame that on the filmmakers. It's not that Saito the character forgot he had the knife, but that the filmmakers decided to suddenly make it as though he didn't have a knife because him having a knife would interfere with the ending. Willful inconsistency.
Also, in addition to the knife, didn't he have a sword? But the filmmakers didn't have him use that either. They wanted their blow-up-the-bridge ending.
The people, and the people alone, are the motive force in the making of history.
-Mao Zedong
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kyjol
9 years ago
I am sorry, but what you infer is wrong and comes from the lack of familiarity with traditional Japanese culture. He IS preparing for suicide, for all the reasons that were pointed out before. This behavior was not coincidental, it was shown for a reason. There was plenty of set up as well - he was reserved and obviously down since the British 'took over'.
Of course you can believe what you will, but I'm afraid it has little to do with facts.
While I would not like to speak from authority or anything like that, I studied Japanese in college and have been deeply familiar with the culture for many years now.
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cfwente
9 years ago
Despite your expressed expertise in matters Japanese ... I don't think so.
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Namfoodle
11 years ago
I agree with you. Why would he have cut his hair if it was just an ordinary letter? And it was clearly a very ritualistic scene, unlike everything else he does.
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