my thanks, mr. mccabe.  ladies and gents.
 on that fateful day, johnny reb had us in a spot, perched on the lonely top of sutter's hill, nothing but grey as far as the eye could see: unhorsed and out of ammunition, i gazed down into the, um, mael.  mael.  -maelstrom below us, and saw them moving up.
i knew it was fight or die. into the teeth of the enemy or we would all be buried.  buried .  shit.  . on the same hill with our comrades a1ready gone to merciful heaven.
keep your head down.
what'd he know? you watch me now. do whatever i say. .
better than you. smell better, too. can you hold on, zeb?
what are you talking about?!
no thought of surrender among those boy. better to die as god made us, we thought, as soldiers.  so i gave the order. mister bugler, sound mount up. mister bugler, sound prepare arms. there were only thirty of us, but we had fire in us yet. i looked down the hill at the destiny ordained for us. and gave the order. mister
and straight into them we went.
"hip-hip hurray" we shouted, for we had spirit in us yet--
before they knew what hit them, we had broken through into the rear of the rebel army.
davey---!!!!
ahhhhhhh--!!!!!
and the 23rd rode on to glory.
now let me: tell you, gentlemen, if there's one thing on earth i could have had with me on that glorious day, it would have been this beauty.
the winchester model '73 lever-action rifle. 15 shot capacity, one round-per-second, accurate at 400 yards. you'll note the patented loading port just beneath the cartridge chamber and the smooth cocking action. . lets' just see here--
smooth trigger action, too.
this is, gentlemen, the gun that is winning the west.  step on up and take a look. mr. mccabe is here to answer any question and take orders. i thank you.
got their attention, didn't i?
june 17th, 1876. the dead are with me tonight. they return each time i am obliged to tell their story.
i can almost see them in the shadows, their bodies whole and beautiful once more. sometimes it's as if they call to me in a sweet invitation --
"we are dead," they whisper, "and we are happy."
"do not be afraid," they whisper. "you have been dead, too."
is this why they gave their lives? so that i might disgrace their memory?
and why, after taking so many lives, do i find myself incapable of taking just one more?
go awa y.
zeb.
sit. please.
given up soldiering to become a critic?
i have i job.
i' m retired.
colonel bagley.
i have an agreement with the winchester corporation -- i'm sure these people have some concept of what an agreement is.
a year?
june 23, 1876. it is impossible, standing here, not to appreciate one's, own insignificance.
here there is neither past, nor future. only an oblivion of water.
and yet i ask myself, will the dead follow me across the ocean to this strange new land?
and these warlords just .  gave up hundreds of years of power?
what about those that didn't?
who are we supposed to be fighting against?
samurai?
you told them about our experiences together on sutter's hill, did you, colonel?
excuse me, gentlemen. i need some air. i'm sure colonel bagley can amuse you with more stories of patriotic gore.
court-martial me.
we both know why you helped me, colonel. don't expect me to go all weepy with gratitude.
how many rimes you puke today?
a real page-turner. sold twelve copies.
and where did you learn to speak japanese?
i got twenty-seven words too - reb, sioux, pawnee, blackfoot, jappo. only one language when it comes to war.
they're gonna carry us?
why the hoods?
all this in twenty years?
buying the future.
no chairs? . .
and this?
you mean to say there are no real beds in japan?
what do they want?
how long have you been in japan?
i've done with worse, believe me.
i look forward to the opportunity of meeting him someday.
i have seen many of them, and have fought them, too. they are very brave.
general.
ask the general what training they' ve had.
sergeant gant, have the men stand to attention.
for god's sake, let's not keep it a secret who's in charge here .  mr. gant.
august 4,1876. as i watch this new army train, i cannot help but think of those who rode with me in me 23rd cavalry.
for four years they had survived, never once shrinking from the fire. and so, when given my order to charge the advancing rebel infantry, they never hesitated. . and they all died.
now i am training another army. in another civil war.
is this why i was spared? once again to lead men to their death?
ask him if they have a flag.
they need a flag.
mr. graham.
what edicts are those?
this is sake?
sake.  good.
ask him if he ever saw a samurai in battle.
zeb. . so sorry.
no tea.  sake.
zeb. i don't think she --
oh, shit.
obviousl y you can kick the shit out of people much larger than you, so we'll be leaving now.
it was.  educational would the general mind telling me more about our common enemy?
what kind of man is be?
kinsman?
ask him what kind of guns katsumoto has.
no, ask him what kind of firearms they have.
they're not a fighting unit yet
with respect, sir, i need more time.
colonel--
yes, air.
what is that sign?
zaibatsu?
they own all of this?
october 24,1876. today we entered kansai province. here the local warlords have all been convinced to accept the emperor's rule.
our destination is yoshino, home of the rebel katsumoto. protected by high mountain passes, it can be reached only during the summer months, and even then with great difficulty.
a long march. and then a battle. a new enemy, but the same feeling i had in my guts at twenty-one, in the cornfield at antietam -- men will die here, today, and will i be among them?
ask him how they'll come at us.
yes.
no one.
i'm going to kill him.
sergeant gant, order the troops to assume staggered firing positions.
fire!
hold the line!
sound fall back! sound fall back!
sake.
sake.
sake.
sake!
sake!
sake.
training what?
why do you learn english?
if i am your enemy, why have you not killed me?
was general yoshitaka your enemy?
that why you helped him kill himself?
hell of an honor.
who was the warrior in the red armor?
and the woman who cares for me?
i killed her husband?
you hope i choke on it, don't you?
you want to poison it and watch me fall over the table and foam at the mouth. yoritomo bows in response to algren's new willingness to communicate.
who are you people anywa y?
you have no god, you have no mercy, you don't even have any fucking walls. your walls are made of paper, what's the matter with you?
this man tries to kill me and i've done nothing to him, and you, i kill your husband and you act like, what? like i'm a guest in your house. what is wrong with you?
do you have a soul at all?
is that what he's doing?
nineteen.
yes.
what about it?
everything about the civil war?
that would take a year.
the civil war began on april 12. 1861 when the rebs attacked fort sumter. well, actually, it probabl y began three years earlier when the supreme court decided a runaway slave had to be returned to his master
--and pickett says he wants to do it, over longstreet's objections and lee doesn't know what to think, but he lets him. so 15,000 men go up that hill. and most of them die.
no, it was stupid.
the point of a battle is to win, or at least have enough men survive to fight another day.
what do you want from me?
you know they're not going to ransom me.
then what are you doing, why are you asking me these questions, what is going on here?
day unknown, month unknown, 1876. i continue to live among these strange people.
each day i am confounded by their strange customs and contradictions, savagery followed by mildness.
they seem to value nothing more than their families, and yet they kill defenseless wounded men without a shade of remorse.
 raisu?
not so fast ko. toba? what is this?
hashi.
algren.
higen. toshiie. taka. she meets his eyes for the slightest moment, then looks down and walks away.
to keep either one from being too powerful.
we believe the opposite.
i have a question. how do you come to speak english?
so that japan could have a powerful ruler to protect it.
and now you must hate him for what he's done.
by fighting his army?
this sword is flawed. what is this uneven line near the edge?
the crew at winchester can produce one rifle ever y seven minutes.
i'm not sure an artillery officer would agree.
i think all killing's a filthy business.
in other words you have no respect for human life.
and what is yours? to rebel against the future? i fought the south in our civil war. their leaders believed they were fighting for "honor" just as you do. and their people died by the thousands!
and my wife is dead.
i look forward to it.
march 9. 1877. i have never known such a disciplined people.
from the moment they wake, they devote themselves to the perfection of whatever they pursue--
and yet the more time i spend here, the less i understand them.
everyone is polite, every nuance of behavior seems to have a great meaning, and increasingly i am convinced that the lower they bow, the leas they mean it.
and i am sure they regard my wa ys to be as confounding and unfathomable as i find theirs.
what?
no mind?
were you praying?
of what?
i'm not much of a writer.
did you love her husband as your own son?
the difference is, you feel nothing.
what does that have to do with anything?
how do you know?
we lived in a place called connecticut. my. brother and i climbed the maple trees.
yes.
i am str uck by these people and their acceptance of fate in a1l it s variations. at a time like this, they seem utterly without sentiment. even the children have a gravity beyond their years.
would last longer .  if stone.
and yet i have never seen a people with more capacity for the joy found in the simplest things of life.
hai. he carries the rice for her into the pantry area.
i know.
i am not japanese.
1.  didn't know he was your husband.
and you do yours.
april 13, 1877. tomorrow we return to civilization. as eager as i am to be among my own kind, i confess to a curious reluctance.
these months have marked me, and i don't fully know yet wh y.
i do know it is here that i have known my first untroubled sleep in many years.
domo arrigato.
you will finish it soon.
 the emperor sends a message for you to return to tokyo, and you go?
even though you're in rebellion against him.
i don't understand.
but ever yone around him wants you dead.
i've had little else for some time.
how's your poem coming?
to protect the railroad.
so tokyo can control the whole country.
you have something they want
minerals .  gold.
coal? for steamships.
china.
mine the coal to create a way station for the trip to china .  freeze the europeans out and japan and america have a monopol y on the china trade.
the wealthy families.
and you will tell the emperor to stop them?
then what do you hope to accomplish?
i have a job here.
why?
they have new weapons.
i need a bath.
may 15, 1877. the city i return to is immeasurabl y changed
as though tokyo were determined to become another new york or chicago .- all in one headlong rush.
yes, sir.
he is samurai.
depends on what you're trying to accomplish.
then they will set you well on your way.
thank you.
my role was much less significant than you may have heard.
i have none.
again, i have none.
he is.  unsympathetic.
again, you flatter me.
i didn't know loyalt y was something that could be sold.
then i will consider it.
private cabin.
whit is this?
what edicts?
that's enough--
yoritomo, wait!
i'm leaving tomorrow. but before i go i need to tell you what's going on here.
they're about to close a trade agreement that will bring this country more weapons than you can imagine.
and you are to be the cause.
i know.
if you do this, they will kill you.
you don't know what their weapons can do. all your men butchered .  just for pride.
but the emperor is the one signing the agreement.
is it worth it? .  just for these,
i have a fear of sentimental englishmen.
who are they?
what do they want from me?
you've been a great help, graham. i thank you.
take back to quarters. i walk.
thought i would follow the japanese fashion.
why would i do that? omura wants me to train his personal guard.
could it be my nose isn't permanently lodged up his ass?
i'm surprised you enjoy it. literally translated it means `love. death. ' . a samurai concept, don't you think?
mr. omura, may i use the necessit y?
this wa y.
how's the poem coming?
name's simon graham. wants to write a book about you.
come on.
no--
no. wait!
there's a wa y out. look--!
this place is designed to keep people from getting in, not from getting out. we can make it
do you have a better one?
i may die. but i'll die trying.
june 1, 1877. yesterday, i passed the field where zebulon gant was killed by the man with whom i now ride. in the distance a steam train chugs along. inevitable. progress.
i am beset by ironies -- trained to fight rebels now i am one. and yet 1 ask mysel f.  can a man be reborn?:
and if so, what would he make of it?
maybe that neither of us is as smart as we thought.
 he gave his life to save us. he died bravel y.
if they come here, yes.
because they come to destroy what i have come to love.
and he is angry because i am the cause of that.
higen.
that is what he believed.
so would i.
and i was always afraid.
i call it five thousand troops. they'll come in waves of about a thousand, a few minutes between each wave.
german formations have the infantry staggered with on1y light flanking. they'll come straight on with rifles and fixed bayonets. mausers are only accurate to about 150 yards. they'll look to overthrow us.
colonel.
i take that as a compliment, colonel. i'll look for you on the field.
they have the howitzers.
about a dozen.
a man could get lost up there .  build an army. hold out a very long time.
by dying?
at least make it battle, not a suicide.
it might give you one more day .  one more fine day like this.
july 14, 1877. for so long now, i have managed to convince myself that there was nothing worth believing in.
certainly nothing worth dying for.
now i am not so sure.
and so, for the first time in my life, i am truly afraid. not of dying. but of losing something worth living for.
the kenbu,.  his dance of death.
i studied war at a place called west point. they taught us about a battle called thermopylae. three hundred brave warriors held off the king of persia's army of a million men. for two da ys they made them pay so dearly that the king lost all appetite for further invasion .  i have some thoughts about the battle tomorrow.
i sure as hell want to find out.
no .  but i think a man cannot know his destiny. he can only do what he can, until his destiny is revealed.
what does it say?
if that is my destiny .  anshinritsumai.
mr. graham.
would you please stay with the horses?
mr. graham .  take this.
maybe you can use it for your book.
the call to advance.
dead to the last man.
they need to regroup and report our position. then they'll come hard.
they're not warriors. they're soldiers. it's a modern army.
we won't be able to hold them back this time.
i died a long time ago.
yes.
no. maybe i survived just to live this one last day.
i'll stay.
just -- stay there.
no.
no, kaishaku.
i will tell you how he lived.