I woke up this morning thinking of an oddly disturbing movie I saw a couple of years ago.
It's about this this samurai who is living right around the poverty line. A widower, he supports his daughters and elderly mother making extra money building and selling cricket cages to the local villagers.
In Meiji Japan, this sort of activity is borderline illegal due to a the caste system so it's a little sketchy.
Then one day, in the middle of barely being able to keep his family alive the leader of his clan shows up and says: "I need you to go kill this guy."
I googled on: samurai movie cricket cage widower
Which led me to:
Looking at the role of the samurai in a very narrow, mercenary sense, the appeal of risking your life in exchange for a position of authority and respect makes a certain sort of epicurean sense.
Watching this movie, I felt compelled to ask: why is he willing to risk his life and the life of his family for people who have really given him nothing in exchange?
Or course, the answer is honor. In this film, it is a rare commodity with a very odd exchange rate.
Just like in real life.
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