Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence

Customer Reviews:

All civilizations based on absolute subservience are dead.......2007-04-14

This film was kind of cult when it came out. Because of David Bowie of course, but also because of the side of the Second World War it showed. In this case, the Japanese refused to apply Geneva conventions and forced onto their prisoners the code of conduct of the Samourai. The result is of course a great level of suffering, total disregard of death and dying, treating a hara-kiri execution as an honor, an honorable spectacle that any soldier should consider as a privilege to be able to watch ... For these Japanese soldiers it is a sign of a total lack of courage to accept to be the prisoners of those who defeated you. The only honorable course of action should be dying, and killing themselves in the last run. When Jack Celliers is captured, tried and sentenced to come to this prisoners' camp, he is bound to explode the whole situation because the commander of the camp, Captain Yonoi, thinks he is different and might be of the Samourai vein. In fact Celliers is a typical British officer: never yields, never accepts the unlawful rule of the enemy, resists and disturbs as long as he is alive in their hands. Yonoi decides a two day fast for everyone, prisoners included, Celliers will provide the prisoners with flowers for food. He will thus lead Yonoi to absolute mental breakdown and the final straw that will break the camel's back will be the double brotherly kiss Celliers will give him in front of everyone when condemned to die or nearly. Celliers revealed thus Yonoi was attracted, fascinated, hence in love even if only as a soldier with Celliers. So Celliers will die buried neck deep in sand and Yonoi will come and get a lock of his hair before he is dead. This lock will be brought in a locket and deposited in a shrine in Japan by Mr Lawrence, the interface between Yonoi and the prisoners, after the war and after Yonoi was executed. The film reveals thus the head-on and headlong confrontation of two military civilizations: the Samourais were obviously condemned by history, but also by life and war. They could not survive this clash. David Bowie is superb in his role and Sakamoto is just as perfect. Cult it is, but also somewhere sickening. How could such an old civilization as Japan come to such an end? We will forgive the film for the obvious fakeness of all violent acts.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University Paris Dauphine & University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne

Outstanding film, a classic.......2006-02-20

This film explains the difference between Western thinking and Eastern thinking. The Japanese felt contempt for anyone who surrendered, against the Japanese teaching. The Japanese seemed brutal, but that was the in their experience and training. Near the end of the film the Japanese sergeant was confused about the capital punishment he was to receive. He only did as he was told. Much of the film is about the resistance and respect between the Bowie character and the Japanese commandant. It is the most unusual war film I have seen, now I will get it on DVD. It's an outstanding film.

Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (1983, Nagisa Oshima).......2005-07-14

A highly unusual war movie with as many detractors as fans, this English-language feature directed by Nagisa Oshima (In the Realm of the Senses) stars David Bowie as a silent, ethereal POW in a Japanese camp. Protesting--via his own enigmatic rebellion--the camp's brutal conditions and treatment of prisoners, Bowie's character earns the respect of the camp commandant (Ryuichi Sakamoto). While the two seem locked in an unspoken, spiritual understanding, another prisoner (Tom Conti) engages in a more conventional resistance against a monstrous sergeant (Takeshi). The film has a way of evoking as many questions as certainties, and it is not always easy to understand the internal logic of the characters' actions. But that's generally true of Oshima's movies, in which the power of certain relationships is almost hallucinatory in self-referential intensity. The cast is outstanding, and Bowie is particularly fascinating in his alien way.

Average customer rating:

The issue is language
West vs. East in WWII (Warning: no English subtitles for Japanese dialog)
Not Your Typical Prisoner-Of-War Film!
Betrayal, regret, and redemption in a POW camp.
On the Other Side

Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence [Region 2]
Starring: David Bowie , Tom Conti , Ryuichi Sakamoto , Takeshi Kitano , and Jack Thompson
Director: Nagisa Oshima
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B00004RYWQ

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Customer Reviews:

The issue is language.......2007-03-17

David Bowie is not Mr. Lawrence. Nor is Mr. Lawrence Ryuchi Sakamoto, although those are the two faces that stand out on the box cover of most releases of this film. Mr. Lawrence is Tom Conti, who plays British translator Col. John Lawrence, standing as the bridge between the English-speaking prisoners and the Japanese jailers in a prison camp during WWII. As a war-time translator, Col. Lawrence is in the most difficult position imaginable. In order to be fluent in a language, it is necessary to understand the culture of that country as well, which means understanding and coming to respect their ways and methods of thinking. He can empathize with the enemy, which makes him an enemy to his own people as well. Language is a complicated issue.

And therein lies the problem with "Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence". Tom Conti cannot speak Japanese, and it is painful to listen to his phonetically memorized lines. The key character, he has a difficult time realizing the role when he doesn't understand his own words. The same problem occurs with the Japanese cast, who struggle their way stiffly through the English language, being unable to focus on the characters they are portraying. On top of this, the director, Nagisa Oshima, is directing actors in a language he himself does not understand, which means he cannot tell if they are giving a good performance or not. The same problem can be seen in other movies of this type, such as Takeshi Kitano's "Brother" or Akira Kurosawa's "Rhapsody in August". Language is a complicated issue.

This could have been a great movie. The director is capable, the story is powerful, and the message is clear. But the language barrier is too great, and because the choice was not made to hire language-capable actors, the movie suffers. It was a valiant effort, attempting to contrast two cultures using a translator able to show both points of view. I would love to see it filmed again.

West vs. East in WWII (Warning: no English subtitles for Japanese dialog).......2007-02-04

I originally saw this movie many years ago on a cable premium movie channel, and I think that version had either English subtitles or dubbed English vocals for the Japanese dialog. Anyway, the particular VHS version offered here by Amazon has neither. Amazon's product description does not warn potential purchasers of this "missing piece." That said, I am glad that I decided to purchase this movie (VHS video) so that I could see it again. Also, for you viewers who are members of the NetFlix or Blockbuster rental video service, a Region 1 DVD is not available (as of Feb. 2007).

This movie is one of the most unique and interesting WWII movies I have ever seen. Tom Conti (Lawrence) and Davie Bowie (Celliers) give knockout performances. The Japanese actors are equally excellent. With the lack of subtitles, one has to guess what is transpiring when the characters are speaking Japanese (quite a lot of Japanese dialog). Fortunately, the Japanese actors are very good with facial expressions and body language, which provide some insight into what is going on.

Some reviewers have compared "Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence" with "The Bridge On the River Kwai" (1957). The former reflects the sensibilities of a Japanese director, and the latter the sensibilities of a British director (David Lean). Therefore, IMO, a direct comparison is not really meaningful. These two films are so very different in many ways. I also think that "Merry Christmas..." is not so much a "war movie" as it is a study in the contrast of Japanese culture and values with Western ones. The plot also explores, with the Celliers' character, the tortured mind of a man who finds himself in the most desperate of circumstances.

In summary, this is a very unusual WWII movie, but well worth the time you need to invest in understanding the character development of the Allied and Japanese soldiers without benefit of English subtitles. Perhaps sometime in the near future, this movie will be released in a Region 1 DVD format with subtitles and some digital restoration of the original film. Such an effort should well reward the owners of this film financially. And, of course, the many lovers of this movie (in Region 1--USA and Canada) will benefit, too.

Not Your Typical Prisoner-Of-War Film!.......2006-12-14

This is a magnificent film. Released in 1983, this is one of those films that leave the viewer questioning many of the scenes and interactions between the various characters. In the film we witness a clash of cultures: Japanese prison gaurds versus Allied POW'S. The film takes place in a POW camp during World War Two. This is very good and complex study of these two contrasting cultures. Set in Java, the Japanese view their British captives as the lowest form of life because they have not died honorably, but have surrendered. Therefore, the POW'S are considered an anathema to the Japanese.

Meanwhile, on the opposite side, you have the British who resent and detest the Japanese treatment as inhumane and uncivilized. (Tom Conti) gives an excellent performance as Lieutenant Colonel John Lawrence. While the camps commander, Captain Yonoi, is portrayed by (Ryuichi Sakamoto) Other leads include Major Celliers (David Bowie) and Sergeant Hara (Takeshi Kitano) As one of the viewers noted, the story deals with the OTHER, from both perspectives: The Japanese side, and the British. This is not your typical war film.

The film is not so much a war film, but more of a deep psychological study of the characters [the other] in that the film attempts to explore and explain to some degree why these two cultures behave and believe the way they do. What makes them both different? And what do they share in common? If anything at all? There is a very strong climax toward the ending of the film which is very strange and sad. [I will not spoil it for you]. The film is Highly recommended. A must watch.

Betrayal, regret, and redemption in a POW camp........2005-12-13

This marvelous film, based on my favorite novel "The Seed And The Sower" by Sir Laurence Van Der Post, is light years away from the stereotypical prisoner-of-war film. It is so because of its profound understanding of clashing cultures, the hatreds that drive them, and the love that redeems hostile nations time and time again. David Bowie is often cited as the main character, but in actuality, his is a compelling supporting role. Tom Conti has the best role of his career as Lieutenant Colonel John Lawrence, a British officer imprisoned in a camp on Java. Japanese composer Ryuichi Sakamoto scored the film and also plays Captain Yonoi, the aristocratic, Shakespeare-quoting commandant of the camp. These two characters have a strong relationship which, nevertheless, is handicapped by the fact that Lawrence understands the Japanese better than Yonoi understands the British. Yonoi, and Bowie's character, Major Jack Celliers, are wracked with guilt over incidents in their past; Yonoi was unable to be with, and die with, his comrades, the "shining young officers" of Japan's February 1936 military coup. Celliers betrayed his deformed younger brother while attending boarding school. Lawrence is caught in the middle of these two tortured men. He is repelled by the brutality of the Japanese, even as he respects them, and their samurai code of honor. Indeed, wayward Japanese guards are dealt cruel and lightening-fast corporal punishment by their officers; and mistreatment of the prisoners is due to cultural belief, not simple sadism. The beauty of this film lies in the empathy that ostensible enemies feel for one another, and the unexpected kindnesses they show toward one another. But Yonoi's devotion to bushido, and blindness to the British sense of honor, leads to a startling climax. If the final scene doesn't make you weep, then get your heart checked, will you?
An amazing film, only slightly marred by a few botched scenes and poor editing. (Oshima rarely shot more than one take.)

On the Other Side.......2005-11-20

As children we are imbued with imagery. From the color of fall leaves to the faded color of your grandmother's favorite sweater, these images become imprinted upon your brain. Living in a visual culture one cannot help that television and movies leave lasting impressions. Back during the early 1980s, a time in which I was enamored with Bugs Bunny, He-Man, Star Wars, and Indiana Jones, I watched a number of films with my dad. I can still remember scenes clearly from Samuel Fuller's The Big Red One and Stuart Rosenberg's Brubaker. The scene in Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence where David Bowie is buried up to his chin in sand is one of those scenes that remained in my memory for some twenty years before I learned its source.

Set in a Javanese prisoner of war camp, Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence mainly concerns man and his contact with the Other. However, who is actually considered the Other in the film? Are the British, Danish, or New Zealand soldiers considered the Other because they are the ones held captive or are the Japanese soldiers, the captors, considered the Other because their actions mystify the Western military men? Within this miasma of confusion stands Col. John Lawrence, a Brit fluent in Japanese and knowledgeable of Japanese culture who finds himself torn between loyalties to his fellow prisoners and relationships with Captain Yonoi, Sakamoto Ryuichi, and Sgt. Hara Gengo, Kitano Takeshi.

As a mediator between both sides, Lawrence tries to keep peace between Yonoi and the head of the prisoners Group Cpt. Hicksley. However, with the violent Hara, who beats both prisoners and his own men mercilessly, peace is tenuous at best.

Things in the camp truly change with the arrival of Maj. Jack Celliers, David Bowie, who Yonoi took a bit of a shine to when the former was on trial. Hoping Celliers can replace the hostile Hicksley, Yonoi looks carefully after the man's welfare, but Celliers has other ideas.

Always one to rock the boat, Oshima's film was the first Japanese war film told for the most part from the Westerner's point of view. Some of the best scenes in the movie were between Lawrence and Hara. While enemies, both men have a begrudging respect for each other. Hara considers Lawrence to be a good soldier and wonders how the lanky man can bare the shame of being a prisoner. Lawrence retorts that he and the other Western soldiers are waiting for the day they can fight again. Shrugging this off, Hara states that he had already given his life to his Emperor and Lawrence returns you are not dead yet. The seen between Hara and Lawrence at the end of the film is truly wonderful.

Beautifully scored by Sakamoto, Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence is a unique work in the annals of Japanese film. Tackling such issues as the Other from both sides, it leaves one wondering if harmony can truly be reached, but with its depictions of friendships that develop out of violence and hate, the film shows that these obstacles can be overcome even if the cost is high.

Average customer rating:

Keeps on keeping on-curiously prophetic
East vs. West Once Again!
an awful film
Finally, A DVD release to be proud of!

Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence [Region 2]
Starring: David Bowie , Tom Conti , Ryuichi Sakamoto , Takeshi Kitano , and Jack Thompson
Director: Nagisa Oshima
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

( M ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video

ASIN: B00022VMJE

Customer Reviews:

Keeps on keeping on-curiously prophetic.......2007-06-24

American critics took a lot of potshots at this film, since it doesn't have the usual Fascinating Fascism (a phrase of the late Susan Sontag's) of the war picture, in which the ego in the darkness can sit back and feel invincible. The leading character apart from David Bowie's daemon of righteousness, played by Tom Conti, makes womanish cries when he is beaten, and he gets beaten alot. He says, "I wish they would stop hitting me".

No Americans appear as does William Holden in the Kwai thing to make it all better by giving us a Winner with whom to identify. The English army mysteriously wins the war and presumably hands "Java" back to the Dutch, about which the less said the better (the Dutch were promptly ejected by the local folks).

But like most great works of art, this work is fecund in a way that the Philistine one to five stars types will never ever get.

It has strange relevance post 9-11. You see, the Japanese think it's womanish to obey the Geneva Convention. They are engaged in a death struggle for oil and other natural resources and so have created The Greater East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere by nicking Hong Kong and Singapore from an embattled Britain and "Java" (Indonesia) from the luckless Dutch, who were overrun in Europe by the Germans.

The Japanese don't like prisoners and think them useless [...]. , rather like Jack Cellier's little brother who is tormented apparently at Harrow for knowing nothing except singing and gardening: a neat and quiet parallel is drawn between bullying, a problem then and now, and the international wrong.

A recent BBC production, "Horror in the East" historicises Japanese brutality in WWII. It wasn't, according at least to some historians, some sort of ancient racial characteristic and during the Meiji period of the 19th century Japan evolved to as civil a country as you could want.

However, in the 1920s, its leaders realized that their urban civilization was completely dependent on foreign oil supplies. The Republican idiots in the White House in the 1920s (Harding and Coolidge) neatly signalled exactly the wrong message to Japan, which was that America needed oil and for this reason Japan could go f**k itself, and Herbert Hoover was too preoccupied with the Depression to remedy this despite his greater skill at foreign policy.

This caused a collective madness in which mature and seasoned diplomats and military men were pushed aside by young officers who decided that Japan needed to conquer China, leave the British alliance without being able to form a new alliance with the USA, and in general roar off into Asia as a race of super men.

To cultivate the new Japanese man, a *Kulturkampf* was waged in the 1920s to return women to traditional roles and ensure that Japanese men didn't become effete cosmopolitan layabouts. The result was that Japanese conduct in WWII was completely different from its conduct in WWI, when Japanese treated their (primarily German) prisoners decently, or in the Russo-Japanese war of 1905 in which the Japanese conformed to international standards in the treatment of their Russian POWs.

There are similarities to and differences from American history post 9-11. The threat of terrorism was added after 9-11 to the fear of running out of oil and a dialectical *kulturkampf* had been dialectically triggered by bimbo-feminist excesses of the 1980s. By 9-11 America was spoiling to make a fight out of an incident that was a police matter, and will never happen in the same way again, because airplane passengers would overpower any jerk with a boxcutter and toss him out the window.

9-11 was a Manchuria incident, a Reichstag fire, and thus a *casus belli* for an ambitious young careerist class that rather nihilistically make its mark upon history, in the manner of a boot stamping on a human face, owing to the brutalization of American culture by 20 years of conservative malarkey, malarkey in which 20% of Americans got rich and the remaining majority got poor, and were invited to ascribe this to their defective character.

The response to 9-11 has normed a new spirit of bullying, brutality and homophobia similarly to the toxic mix that existed in the late 1930s, and it's a job for the daemon saint to resist this as does Bowie when he saves the British commandant's life by deliberately shaming the Japanese commandant.

As such, the film is seriously hated by a lot of people. It's troubling in its implications. The ape in us wants to be on the side that's winning.

Yes, there is a rough and jagged parallel between Japanese prison camps of WWII and abu Ghraib, and Guantanamo. In both we see the coward's war against the feminine and against the threat to his comfort and pleasure. Although there is in this film a patriotic presumption that British soldiers are uniformly gentle, and soft spoken (apart from the drill sergeant and his lunatic commands on parade) and like as not to break into anthems, this presumption is well-earned by the typical British soldier,

Unfortunately, today this film could not be made as jingoism, Fundamentalism and malarkey return in phenomena such as America's foolish response to 9-11, the revival of the cult of military sacrifice in Japan, and, world-wide, a mad "return to my roots", roots that were long ago torn up and shredded.

East vs. West Once Again!.......2006-10-22

"Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence" (1983) is a very special war movie, product of an atypical collaboration.
Let see: film director is multi-awarded Nagisa Oshima, his most notable opus are the present movie; "Empire of Senses" (1976); "Empire of Passion" ((1978) winner of Cannes Best Director Award and "Taboo" (1999).
Two of the main characters are impersonate by actors that are more known as musicians & score composers: Ryuichi Sakamoto and David Bowie.
The story is based on South African Laurens Van der Post's novel "The Seed and the Sower" reflecting his actual experiences as POW.
From this rich international talents mix emerge the present film.

The story narrates the daily life in a Japanese prison camp where cultures collide and confront. The Japanese assumes British military are despicable because they have surrendered instead of continue fighting until death.
The British resent and resist the brutal treatment they receive and scorn their captors as "uncivilized barbarians".
Among the two groups strong undercurrents of a different sign circulate. It is a "positive perception" of the enemy's "qualities" even against their own internal logic.
Capt. Yonoi empathizes with Maj. Celliers and Col. Lawrence with Sgt. Hara, even if their daily confrontations lead them to more and bleaker ones.
This attraction-repulsion phenomenon is shown in other great POW camps films, most notably "The Bridge on the River Kwai" (1957) and "To End All Wars" (2001).

David Bowie delivers a very good acting piece, his best IMHO and Ryuichi Sakamoto is very convincing in his characterization of the troubled samurai.

This is an interesting film, which cast a new light over these difficult relationships. If you are interested in war movies you can't miss this one!
Reviewed by Max Yofre.

an awful film.......2006-05-02

I'd been meaning to see this film for many years, so I was glad to finally get it out. What a disappointment! It's a badly made film: poor script, an awful sense of rhythm, visually ugly and frankly boring. The performances are quite often wooden, though that's because the characters are poorly written. Tom Conti is relaxed and natural, but the material is so thin there's not much he can do.

The filming looks quite amateurish, and as far as I know, the director never made anything spectacular. If you're interested in Japanese prisoner of war stories, get out 'River Kwai' or the Australian miniseries A Town Like Alice. I've also heard the English TV series Tenko is quite good. But skip this film.

Finally, A DVD release to be proud of!.......2006-01-22

I've been suckered into a few other DVD releases of this film, so I was skeptical about this one. However in selling my other two copies and taking the money from those sells and buying this one, well need I say this is the last version, but the one I'm completely satisfied with. The extras included filmed memories by Ryuichi Sakamoto, Producer JeremyThomas and Director Nagisa Oshima as well as an 1983 thirty-minute behind the scenes short. The film is beautiful and has been mastered from a new 35MM print and the haunting score by Ryuichi Sakamoto makes this DVD a treasured film for years to come.

Average customer rating:

Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence
Starring: David Bowie , Tom Conti , Ryuichi Sakamoto , Takeshi Kitano , and Jack Thompson
Director: Nagisa Oshima
Manufacturer: Manga Films
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

Product Description

Spain released, PAL/Region 2 DVD: it WILL NOT play on standard US DVD player. You need multi-region PAL/NTSC DVD player to view it in USA/Canada. Languages: o Spanish (subtitles) o English (Dolby Digital 2.0) o Spanish (Mono) Synopsis: Director Nagisa Oshima and co-writer Paul Mayersburg's narrative is more fractured than in most films of the POW camp genre, in which the story inevitably leads to some kind of escape. They are interested in exploring the psychology of their characters and the geometry of the camp, in which the captors are both wardens and interrogators, and the prisoners both captors and resisters. A rarity among prisoner of war films, Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence also addresses the subject of homosexuality, not in overt fashion, but as a fact of POW camp life. Using two androgynous performers, Japanese composer Ryuichi Sakamoto (who also wrote the film's score) and British musician David Bowie, to play the adversaries Yonoi and Celliers, Oshima suggests that Celliers' ability to withstand abuse from his captors elicits more than just admiration from the commandant. Tom Conti's John Lawrence is the supposed bridge between the two warring sides, thanks to his ability to speak Japanese, but he is powerless to stop the sadistic Sergeant Hara (Beat Takeshi Kitano, here billed as "Takeshi") from abusing Celliers. If the film isn't the crowd-pleaser that The Great Escape was or a more coherent mediation on the officers' code that Grand Illusion was, it is an honest attempt to examine the cultural differences that mark the POW setting. Special Features: o Filmographies o Interactive Menu o Making Of o Scene Access o Trailer(s)

Special Collector's Edition: Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence [Non-US Format, Pal, Region 2, Import]

Average customer rating:

Special Collector's Edition: Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence [Non-US Format, Pal, Region 2, Import]

ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

Special Editions | Fully Loaded DVDs | Features | DVD | Video
Product Features:

Region 2 encoding (Europe, Japan, South Africa and the Middle East including Egypt).
Requires multi-system DVD player in the US
Special Feature Information:
- Interviews with Nagisa Oshima And Ryuichi Sakamoto.
- The Oshima Gang Making Of Documentary.

ASIN: 8320813522

Product Description

Interviews with Nagisa Oshima And Ryuichi Sakamoto And Jerry Thomas / The Oshima Gang Making Of Documentary / Theatrical Trailer

Average customer rating:

Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence [Region 2]
Starring: David Bowie , Tom Conti , Ryuichi Sakamoto , Takeshi Kitano , and Jack Thompson
Director: Nagisa Oshima
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

( M ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video

Average customer rating:

Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence [Region 2]
Starring: David Bowie , Tom Conti , Ryuichi Sakamoto , Takeshi Kitano , and Jack Thompson
Director: Nagisa Oshima
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

( M ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video

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