Title: 戦場メリークリスマス (Senjou Merii Kurisumasu)
English Title: Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence Release Date: 1983 Director: Oshima Nagisa Starring: Tom Conti, David Bowie, Sakamoto Ryuichi, Kitano, Takeshi The music, composed by Sakamoto Ryuichi, captured me right from the start. Evocative, and hauntingly beautiful, I immediately recalled the music by Masuda Toshio from the series Mushishi and realized the influence he must have had from Sakamoto’s style. Probably the first thing that I should write in my essay about this movie is that David Bowie plays a lead character. Known more for inventing the character Ziggy Stardust and singing cosmic, space rock, any movie that features Bowie, not for his music, but for his acting is bound to catch the eye. Bowie, however, is not the only musician playing a lead role in this movie as composer of the film’s soundtrack Sakamoto Ryuichi also stars, as a head of the P.O.W. camp where the film takes place. In addition to Sakamoto’s role, the characters played by Tom Conti and Kitano Takeshi, who give the movie’s best performances, have the most depth and make the movie a very enjoyable watch. We also can’t forget Oshima Nagisa, and his role as the creator and visionary behind this international effort film. The setting takes place at a Japanese P.O.W. camp in Burma, during World War II. Lawrence (Conti) is one of the many, mostly British prisoners; however he is different in that he has spent some time in Japan and can speak Japanese. This enables him and Kitano’s character, Hara Gunso, to form a connection, and as close of a friendship as their circumstances dictate. It amazes me how many different issues Oshima attempts to tackle with this one movie. The most obvious is the contact / confrontation of two different cultures – Japanese and English, East and West. Within this sphere, Oshima attempts to portray both similarities and differences between the two, and also capture popular images and views toward the other from that time. The first of these relates to different views on the concept of death. The British soldiers are portrayed as placing value on the preservation of life – one’s own and others. This is different from some of the Japanese soldiers, especially Yanoi (Sakamoto) who feels that there is more value in ending one’s life than being caught, something which he himself regrets not having done, after some of his comrades were killed. Also issues of individuality and portrayals of the concept of “the group,” appear repeatedly throughout the movie. Lawrence and Jack (Bowie) at one point spitefully joke about how the Japanese can’t do anything individually and, indeed, events happen in the movie, which might lead one to believe there is some shred of truth to what the characters say.
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