SEVEN: The Highway War

Director: Sergei Kurosawa

Writer: Dante Watanabe

Producer: Sergei Kurosawa

Engineer: Kenji Eisenstein

Starring: Luna Delgado as Maria, Ryu Tachibana as Dragoneye, Valentino Rossetti as Marcus Cruel,

Production Company: Northern Star Media Group

Distribution Company: KrasFilm

Release Date: 2316 CE

Running Time: 2hrs 40min

Few people know of the Highway War, a conflict between several razboyniki groups and a loose alliance of small towns. The conflict was in essence on the fringes of the settled areas of Lazarus, far from the hurly burly of the major communities. Yet it was an epochal event.

Sadly though few records remain of the Highway War.

In fact for most Lazarene's SEVEN has been the only medium that has brought the conflict, much exaggerated and dramatised, to light. Still it was enough to catapult two aspiring actors, Luna Delgado and Ryu Tachibana to mega stardom. When SEVEN was released it was a major hit on the virtual drama circuit. In fact a copy of the film was sent back to Earth on one of the voyages of the UNCV Calypso where it was received with critical acclaim.

Essentially the film loosely follows what was known about the conflict at the time, the fact that a mercenary group called Seven was contracted to aid several towns and villages defend themselves from razboyniki predation. Dante Watanabe took some creative license and rather than opting to have a company made the name the literal number of mercenaries.

So seven cyber mercenaries or ronin are hired by a young mayor to save not only her home town but nearby communities. Director, Sergei Kurosawa drew upon elements of Japanese cinema specifically a movie directed by an ancestor of his as well a series of lesser known road war flicks made in the late twentieth century as a foundation for SEVEN.

Combining action, melodrama, pathos and star crossed romance both Kurosawa and Watanabe wove these together to produce a compelling work. Not only that but Engineer, Kenji Eisenstein spent countless hours working on the virtual aspects allow a user to experience the drama from several different view points. This alone was a major shift in virtual drama, usually one could experience the film as either the male or female lead or as a passive observer, Eisenstein managed to incorporate several side characters as well as the villain allowing for a diffuse perspective of the work.

When SEVEN was released it became an overnight sensation. Kurosawa, Watanabe & Eisenstein were hailed as artistic geniuses while Delgado and Tachibana were feted as paragons of acting talent, the pinnacle of the actors profession at the time.