Takeshi 'Beat' Kitano directs, scripts and stars in this martial arts adventure as Zatoichi, a character well known in Japan through television series and films but rarely seen in the West. Zatoichi is a blind masseur who also happens to be a master swordsman, thanks to his extraordinarily heightened senses. Travelling the country fighting for the weak and oppressed, he joins forces with a young man and woman out to avenge their slaughtered parents, to help them protect a village against a brutal gang led by ronin Hattori. Kitano manages to mix blood-splatteringly violent stylised fights with genuinely funny moments in this unique samurai movie.
Zatôichi is a Film programme that first aired in 2003 and has been classified a 18 certificate.
