Kanbei isn’t exactly Hannibal Lecter, and Murashige, whom Motoki lends immense stature, wisdom, and gravity, is no one’s idea of Clarice Starling. “The Samurai and the Prisoner” may be set centuries earlier, but it’s a Kurosawa movie through and through. Divine punishment can make for great spectacle, and spectacle, the film argues, can easily become an instrument of mass manipulation and mind control. Throughout, “The Samurai and the Prisoner” is fascinated by the significance of the seemingly insignificant. But a blip can contain multitudes, and this one allows Murashige to question every aspect of the social order that has shaped him.