The Way of the Gun can also be viewed as a modern
Samurai movie. Anyone who has studied the
culture of
Japan during the period in which
Saumurai philosophy developed, or has even seen a decent
Samurai movie (i.e.
Seven Samurai by
Akira Kurosawa) will find the
thematic elements and
characters very similar to the
Samurai. The single-minded
determinism, never shying from
danger or
violence, the idea that one has already given oneself over to
death, each of these is demonstrated in the movie.
SPOILER SPOILER If you haven't seen the movie, you sould stop reading now! SPOILER SPOILER
One facet of the movie that I find especially poignant is the end scene, where Phillipe and Del Toro plead to let the mother keep her baby, while they lay dying on the ground. It is this view of death that perfectly characterizes the protaganists as Samurai.