Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai
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Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai is a 1999 film directed by Jim Jarmusch. It takes place somewhere in the present day United States.
In the film Forest Whitaker plays an African American hitman working for the Mafia, named Ghost Dog, who follows the ancient code of the samurai as described in Yamamoto Tsunetomo's guide for a warrior, Hagakure.
Ghost Dog sees himself as a retainer of Louie (John Tormey), a local mobster, who saved his life years ago. When Ghost Dog kills the man sleeping with the mafia boss's daughter in the presence of the girl, the mafia (small-time, cartoon-watching mobsters) decide to get rid of him. Not knowing anything about him but that he communicates by carrier pigeon, they start by tracing all carrier pigeon-keeping loners, in the end finding his cabin atop a building, and killing his carrier pigeons, after which Ghost Dog realizes he is forced to kill them, or otherwise they will kill him.
During the day, Ghost Dog takes cares of his carrier pigeons and frequently visits the park to see his best friend, a Haitian ice-cream salesman named Raymond (Isaach De Bankolé) who does not speak a word of English, only French. Ghost Dog doesn't understand French and Raymond doesn't understand English, but the two seem to understand each other. One of the recurring events in the film is a running gag when Ghost Dog and Raymond talk. One of them says something and the other, having not understood a word, repeats it in his own language. Ghost Dog also makes friends with a little girl named Pearline (Camille Winbush) to whom he lends a book titled Rashomon which gets Pearline interested in the ancient Japan.
In the end Ghost Dog succeeds in killing the mobsters, except for his "retainer" Louie, to whom he feels he owes his life. Louie then kills Ghost Dog in the final showdown.
The movie stresses the conflict between two codes of conduct, that of the (aging) mobsters (incapable of paying the rent of their meeting place) and the one of the samurai, chosen by Ghost Dog. There is a certain sense of inevitability in the movie, and also of honor, portrayed by Ghost Dog killing two hunters he encounters on the road with a dead bear, outside the hunting season.
Between the acts a quotation from Hagakure is screened and read by Ghost Dog.
The film's score and soundtrack is produced by the Wu-Tang Clan's RZA.
External links
- Template:Imdb title
- Ghost Dog : Way of the Samurai - a Film Review (http://home.clear.net.nz/pages/juni0r/ghostdog.html)de:Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai