Watch Akira Kurosawa’s “Kagemusha” Online on Fancast

Kagemusha means “Shadow Warrior” in Japan, and it is also a term used for an impersonator. Akira Kurosawa’s 1980 film, an ambitious epic financed in part by Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas exerting pressure on 20th Century Fox to shore up a shortfall from Toho Studios, took that title and explored both meanings of the word.

Takeda Shingen is a warlord leading his clan during the Sengoku period of constant military conflict in Japan, in the 1500s. His brother, Nobukado, spared a petty thief from crucifixion because he bore a striking resemblance to Shingen, and that could prove useful. When Shingen is felled on the battlefield, Nobukado’s hunch is shown to be right. Shingen ordered his death to be kept secret for three years, and so the thief is taught to be a kagemusha. This man must now not only fool the enemies into believing Shingen yet lives, and thus forestall any attempts to attack the vulnerable clan, but he must also fool Shingen’s concubines and even his family as well. The true test comes in warfare, where a low-life criminal must somehow inspire an army to victory to save Shingen’s son.

Kurosawa is one of the most respected filmmakers of all time, and Kagemusha was nominated for two Academy Awards.

Watch Akira Kurosawa’s Kagemusha in its entirety right here, right now on Fancast.