Nathan Algren is Tom Cruise’s character, a former U.S. Army captain, in The Last Samurai.
Edward Zwick’s 2003 film follows Algren after he is hired to train Japan’s new imperial army in modern firearms and tactics. He is captured by samurai led by Katsumoto and gradually becomes sympathetic to their cause.
The character is fictional, although the film draws loosely on real nineteenth-century events, including the Satsuma Rebellion of 1877. Algren is also partly associated by viewers with foreign military advisers who served Japan, but he is not a direct portrait of one historical person.
Ken Watanabe played Katsumoto, the samurai leader. The film’s title and story reflect the decline of the samurai class during Japan’s rapid modernization, though many historical details are simplified or invented.