The film itself has a lot of historical art content. Within the first six minutes we are shown one of Vincent’s famous paintings The Night Café. Although not the original piece, it is sort of an homage to the painting. It shows the café portraited in the painting, but with our protagonist and his father sitting and conversating. And right after that we see our protagonist in the painting Café Terrace at Night. We see this again and again numerous times in the film, mostly because this is the setting at the time. I enjoy that, it is almost like a game I can play. How many Van Gogh paintings can I spot? But, at the same time, I find it difficult for others who are not familiar with his paintings to pick them out. I am more familiar with his work, so I was able to tell others what parts are actual real-life paintings and feel very smart while doing it. But I digress. Another interesting part of the movie is the fluidity of the paintings when they transition from real time to Van Gogh’s past. The way the film does this is whenever a character speaks of past Vincent, all the colors swirl around and lose contact to become black and white. It would be the same as a fade into another scene in regular movies. It all works very well together.

An important topic throughout the film is Van Gogh’s death, although it is similar to a biopic as it discussed his early life and his painting. Up until the point of watching this movie, I only thought Van Gogh had killed himself. This film is different in that it discussed the idea that he was murdered instead of the idea that he killed himself. The characters give their own opinions throughout on which act they think happened. I enjoy this aspect of the film because not only is it giving context about Van Gogh’s life, but it is also giving you the chance to make your own decision on what you think happened. It is like the movie spreads out all of the evidence and gives you many options to choose from. I also think this helps us understand Vincent much better. Past movies all focus on how much of a tormented artist he was. It almost always seems like no one cared about him. For example, Lust for Life is a film made about Van Gogh, and in the film, it shows how his brother Theo constantly gave him money but also heavily supported Vincent. In Loving Vincent, they chose to show how Dr. Gachet told Vincent that his painting expenses are what is killing his brother. This ultimately ended up being, according to the film, the tipping point for Vincent to “take his own life.” That part seemed more like a negative to me, because now I do not know what the real truth is. These films I feel are the reason people see Van Gogh differently. Loving Vincent is more refreshing, as it discussed more than just him being poignant, irrational, or tormented. Instead of portraying him as an angry and foolish man like in Lust for Life, this film gives you a look into more than just that. It really shows just how clearly misunderstood Van Gogh really was.

Overall, this theme in the film is a strong one to me. All the events make you ask questions, like who really supported Vincent? Why did some think that he was crazy? And, finally, did he really kill himself? Loving Vincent truly pulls at one’s heartstrings and make you feel so bad for this depressed painter. It seemed like all Van Gogh wanted was to live a normal life doing what he loved. But this film makes you sympathize with him. This way, whenever you look at his paintings, no longer will you think of how beautiful it is, but more about the struggle Vincent went through to create it. Van Gogh truly felt too much, which can be shown at the end of the film when the letter the protagonist was trying to send all along is read aloud. In it, we hear Van Gogh speak about art and death and how he does not know anything about it. But how the sight of the stars always makes him dream. With all of these details together, the movie is a biopic about Vincent Van Gogh that beautifully represents a different side of him that we had never seen before. Instead of showing Van Gogh as some crazy artist that no one understood nor liked, we see a different type of Vincent. One that cares too much, one who just wanted to enjoy life. Someone who was obsessed with living. He was a person who wanted to reach the stars.

Graham brings the two American soldiers to Emperor Meiji’s palace. As they are walking up the many stairs that lead to the palace, Graham explains to Algren and Bagley a few Japanese customs: if the emperor stands, one must bow and if the emperor bows, one must bow lower. He also explains that for two thousand years no “commoner” would have seen the emperor in person, how honored they should feel for being granted permission, which is historically accurate. As they entered the palace I noticed a few familiar details. I realized that a lot of the Japanese culture depicted in the film was very similar to what I have learned in an art history class at Bloomsburg University, about China during the Qing Dynasty. The Qing Dynasty was the final imperial dynasty in China, lasting from 1644 to 1912. It was an era noted for its initial prosperity and tumultuous final years, and for being only the second time that China was not ruled by the Han people. For example, the color scheme of the palace. While being a classic Japanese meeting room with wide-open space, bamboo curtains, and/or sliding doors separating each room, there is an overwhelming amount of yellows and reds painted all around the room.
Along with that similarity to China, there was also a golden five claw lion on the ground in front of the emperor, who was sitting in the shadows of a tented area. The sliding doors were painted with cherry blossom trees, which would’ve been common during that time period in Japan.

Although these details are accurate, after further research I was able to find some inaccurate details about this specific scene, as well. Although the two American soldiers are accurately dressed and equipped with their formal uniform and sword, this detail was added in by filmmakers. No man, and especially a foreigner would be allowed in the presence of the Emperor
whiled armed with any type of weapons. As the film continues, Captain Algren trains the emperor’s army and equips them accurately with western weapons like rifles with bayonets, pistols, and swords. They train for a few weeks, but unpreparedly go into a small battle with the samurai. The samurai, although accurately equipped with the correct weaponry, are inaccurately dressed in formal armor. After further research, I found that the armor worn in the film was accurate to the samurai, although it was an inaccurate time in history; they would not have been wearing that specific armor. In this scene, the emperor’s army is forced to retreat, and is slaughtered by a flanking group of samurai. Captain Algren is captured along with one of the emperor’s army superiors, General Hasewaga. General Hasewaga is said to be a former samurai, who was considered a traitor by the samurai. As Algren is being carried away, General Hasewaga is shown on his knees, surrounded by samurai warriors. General Hasewaga then drives a blade into his stomach, and is beheaded by Katsumoto, a samurai leader. The detail of the beheading is not entirely accurate, but a samurai leader very well may have done this to a well-known enemy or prisoner. This part of the scene is fairly accurate too, because the dishonor of being a traitor would ultimately result in suicide by a samurai, specifically called seppuku. Seppuku is a form of ritual suicide that originated with Japan’s ancient samurai warrior class. The grisly act typically involved stabbing oneself in the belly with a short sword, slicing open the stomach and then turning the blade upwards to ensure a fatal wound. This part of the film would be an educational, gruesome attention-getter, to inform the viewer while at the same time being an entertaining aspect.

Another accurate detail is the religion of the samurai. Katsumoto is shown kneeling before a statue of Buddha praying. This is accurate to the religion in Japan in the 1800s, and after learning about China during the Qing Dynasty, I realized this is also another related fact to China during the Qing Dynasty. The film progresses as the captured Captain Algren is initially kept alive to learn about the emperor’s new army, but eventually is found learning the samurai way of life and fighting with them in battle. He learns how to properly wield a samurai sword and spear, along with how to live by samurai customs.

The Last Samurai is a well-plotted movie, and for the majority of the movie is historically accurate in the way they depict Japan in the 1800s. It is an action-filled, gory drama where the main characters are often faced with hard decisions one would not face on a normal basis. Although the filmmakers added a touch of inaccurate details like outfits and customs, to make the film more entertaining, I enjoyed the film and would recommend anyone should watch it if they are interested in the history of Japan and America in the 1800s, and are a fan of action movies.

The film includes Joseph and Armand Roulin who are based on real members of the Roulin family. Vincent painted group portrait paintings of the Roulin family members which included postman, Joseph Roulin, his wife Augustine and their three children: Armand, Camille and Marcelle. During Vincent’s childhood, the film briefly addressed that he “couldn’t fit in.” Vincent had a stillborn brother and he felt like, in his mother’s eyes, he could never measure up to his deceased brother. However, Vincent and his younger brother, Theo van Gogh, were close and Theo became very depressed and withdrawn after Vincent’s death. In real life, it was described that Theo was very fascinated with Vincent and admired him. However, their communication was difficult because of distance,which probably resulted in the exchange of letters. However, the letters were away for the brothers to be able to keep up with each other’s lives. One year after Vincent van Gogh’s suicide, Joseph Roulin asks his son Armand to deliver Van Gogh’s last letter to his brother, Theo. However, it is later revealed that Theo died six months after Vincent. 

In my opinion, even though Vincent’s life was complicated, his death, which was fairly the focus of the movie, was even more difficult and mysterious. It seemed like everyone had a story to tell about his death, and I still feel like it is a mystery because there was no suicide note stating why he chose to kill himself. Also, the film includes the idea that Vincent didn’t kill himself. Rene Secretan was a local bully who used to flash his gun and harass Vincent. After hearing a few people talk around,Armand began to suspect Rene shot Vincent. Equally important, his items were removed from the field where he shot himself. Throughout the film, many people were confused as to why Vincent killed himself because they said he seemed “fine.” I don’t know how true these details are but the movie did make me question a lot about his death. For example, who moved his items, why were they moved, and why did he kill himself? Also, the movie briefly pays attention to Vincent’s real life mental illness. The film includes Dr. Gatchet, who was a subject in one of Vincent’s real portraits. Dr. Gatchet took care of Vincent during his final moments (this was also displayed in the film). Towards the end of the film, Dr. Gachet said Vincent suffered from melancholia, meaning he would be joyful one minute and in the next few hours he would be in deep depression. To me that sounds like bipolar disorder, but this just goes to show that you never really know what disturbing challenges some people have to face even though they may appear to be okay. Furthermore, Dr. Gachet told Armand that he told Vincent that the burden of him is killing his brother, Theo, who was in bad health. Dr. Gachet knew he shouldn’t have said that to Vincent and if this is true, I think, aside from other issues in his life, Vincent killed himself because he no longer wanted to be a burden and stressor to his brother and in result, be a contributor to his death.

Loving Vincent may cause viewers to feel sorry for Vincent because he didn’t have a happy, “normal” life. He only seemed content when he was painting for hours. The film may have an effect on what viewers think about Van Gogh’s work because instead of looking at his work as something “beautiful,” the film makes you think about Vincent’s mental state while he was doing a painting or did his mental health contribute to his creativity to produce such paintings.Also, according to the film, it is sad that the last known news he heard was that he was a burden to the only person who truly believed in him and admired him.