The plot of the movie draws inspiration from events that transpired during the Boshin War, specifically focusing on the Shibata clan’s betrayal of the Shogunate’s forces to support the Emperor’s army. As far as Retainer Mizoguchi is concerned, when it comes to accomplishing his set goals, he won’t hesitate even for a second to adopt ruthless methods, especially when it comes to imagining a bright future for his daughter and ensuring the continuity of his bloodline. An average worker named Masa begins the film by killing a samurai belonging to clan Mizoguchi, only due to the fact that the samurai raped his deaf wife. His life is saved by Noro, a self proclaimed city “idiot” who believes that Masa is his long lost brother, however, unfortunately for Masa, he gets arrested and sentenced to death. Afterwards, Masa and Noro alongside many other convicted men were tasked to defend a fortress in exchange for a pardon.
A man eager to cheat in a game of dice, a priest eager to get with girls, a murderous paranoid, an elder combatant, a doctor’s son wishing to abandon Japan and pursue medicine in Russia, a female arsonist, and many others form an incredible cast together with two squires to complete what seems to be a colossal mission. They aim to accomplish a rather hard mission which is to escape from Japan. In the beginning, they work as a team but then, the twist hits as they all run into enemies one after the other.
Zeeru reminded us that people’s lives are more precious than gold.” The film starts with the somewhat unique and renowned character ensemble, while at the same time the rather perplexing case that serves as the vantage point of the narrative also has a notable amount of emphasis. The heads start getting severed, the bodies explode with blood spewing to the screen and the turning point gets a tad too insipid; however, things get moving as brutal action takes over the plot. The greater part of the whole film and especially all instances where people die reflects stereotypical elements from comic books and manga as women and men are seen for whatever reason cutting off parts of their body or exploding them.
It is somewhere here that the issues with the movie start becoming quite evident. The way most of the characters are depicted and later disposed of makes it impossible to empathize with them or mourn over their deaths, the quantity also being complementary to the idea and depriving the film of any possible dramatic hypostasis. In the end, essentially the ones that stick out are just three, Takayuki Yamada‘s Masa and Takara Sakumoto‘s Noro and Sadawo Abe‘s Mizoguchi are in a nutshell the only ones who have some substance. On the other hand, it definitely works in their case as well that their acting is definitely on a high level although Noro is definitely overused as a character for the economy of the story. Abe in particular, does a great job in portraying a rather vile villain, in a quite stable performance.
Another drawback of the film is its length, the movie stretches for 165 minutes which includes a series of action and fight scenes which seem to be longer than they should, in short it ruins the essence of the film. Also this problem alongside with the domestic ones is the length of the ending of Japanese movies, especially such long ones where the climax should be building up, many of the scenes during the conclusion feel gratuitous especially during a quiet period.
As far as cinematography, sound effects, and editing is concerned, “11 Rebels” is one of the best, without question. Naoya Ikeda alongside Hitomi Kato, has done a phenomenal job and truly impressive work can be seen done with the explosion sequences to set design and even costumes, which leave the viewers astonished with this audio visual spectacle.
It does seem that “11 Rebels” has a couple of marketing issues and overall entertainment affecting its depth, resulting in an hour and a half duration. But, that seems not to have been a problem for Shiraishi as entertainment value was his main goal and he did achieve that.
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