Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence

Name: Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence
Genre: War, Drama, Classic
Released: 1983
Duration: 123 min
Cast: David Bowie, Takeshi Kitano, Tom Conti, Ryûichi Sakamoto, Jack Thompson

Nagisa Ōshima19832h 3mWar, Drama, Classic

Why we chose it

Desire stirs in a Japanese camp on Java in 1942, where Nagisa Ōshima (“In the Realm of the Senses”) cast two famous musicians: David Bowie as a prisoner and first-time actor Ryuichi Sakamoto as the obsessive commandant, who also wrote the score. Both sides search for their humanity in dark times.

Synopsis

British major Jack Celliers arrives in a Japanese prison camp and refuses to be broken, and the commandant, Yonoi, can’t take his eyes off him. Lieutenant Colonel John Lawrence, a British officer who speaks Japanese, tries to bridge the two sides, though what he passes on isn’t always a translation. Sometimes it’s what he thinks they ought to hear.