Borges's influence in literature and cinema

Literary and cinematic works are being examined through the lens of Jorge Luis Borges's influence and themes. In literature, studies have explored the connections between Borges and the Portuguese poet Fernando Pessoa. Despite Borges claiming not to have read Pessoa, scholars like Emir Rodríguez Monegal have identified significant parallels between the two, including their English education, Semitic heritage, and shared interests in occultism, the Kabbalah, and authors such as Edgar Allan Poe and Walt Whitman.

In cinema, Kiyoshi Kurosawa's film ‘The Samurai and the Prisoner’ (2026) is noted for its Borgesian themes of duality and mirrors. Set in late 16th-century Japan during the era of shifting power toward the shogunate, the film follows a samurai named Murashige who refuses to surrender his castle to a former ally, leading to a climate of suspicion and rumor within his court.