One of director Masaki Kobayashi’s greatest films, Samurai Rebellion is set in the Edo period of Japan, where rules and obedience are the way of life.

When one family chooses loyalty and love for each other over the whims of the cruel Lord Matsudaira, rebellion is sparked and the film slowly builds to a crescendo of samurai combat.

Kobayashi’s characters, which include Toshiro Mifune’s revelatory performance as Isaburo, are formal but fierce and set against a gloomy but beautiful black and white world of 1700s Japan.