Japanese director Nagisa Oshima's 1983 film Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence starred David Bowie, Tom Conti, Ryuichi Sakamoto and Takeshi Kitano.
The film is set in a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp on the island of Java, where prisoners are brutally treated as the Japanese believe the Geneva Convention is not for them, they make their
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Japanese director Nagisa Oshima's 1983 film Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence starred David Bowie, Tom Conti, Ryuichi Sakamoto and Takeshi Kitano. The film is set in a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp on the island of Java, where prisoners are brutally treated as the Japanese believe the Geneva Convention is not for them, they make their own laws. In the example of several episodes and several characters, we are actually shown not just episodes of camp life, but demonstrate the difference in worldviews between East and West, between the code of samurai honor, with which, however, not everything is perfect among the characters themselves, in particular, Captain Yonoi (Ryuichi Sakamoto), the commandant of the camp, and the view of the British military, who surrendered, believing, as Colonel Lawrence (Tom Conti) said, that captivity is just another circumstance of the war. On a military trial, Yonoi confronts Major Sellers (David Bowie), who, although he has surrendered himself, is not afraid of the execution that threatens him, speaks out and behaves rather boldly. Avoiding her this time, Sellers enters Yonoi’s camp and a kind of hatred-rivalry ensues between them. They are kind of soul mates, so to speak in this situation, both brilliant young people, but with an obvious wormhole, as they are aware of, both suffer because of the betrayal committed in the past - Yonoi betrayed his associates and did not commit suicide, as required by the code of samurai honor, Sellers betrayed his younger brother, fearful of damaging his impeccable reputation at school. Next to them, we see another “duet” – Sergeant Hara (Takeshi Kitano), a self-governing officer at times in the camp, and Colonel Lawrence, in whom the love of Japanese (art, tradition, etc.) struggles with his current position, this will help Lawrence avoid execution, but he will not repay the sergeant in the same way when given the opportunity. Despite the great timing, the film looks good, if anyone is interested in the subject, I recommend watching.
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