Cheap Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (Video) (David Bowie, Tom Conti, Ryuichi Sakamoto) (Nagisa Oshima) Price

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Customer Reviews of Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence

A cultural misunderstanding tour de force
I have yet to see another movie of this type that explores the very scary side of cultural misunderstanding. Caught in a Japanese POW camp, deep in an East Asian jungle - both the Japanese and their Allied prisoners are out of their element. What are they to do? They play out the never ending drama of empowered over disempowered and do so under the framework of their respective traditions. In the war, to surrender meant shame for one, to the other it meant a lease on life - hope. The dynamics played out by Major Jack Celliers (David Bowie) and Captain Yonoi (Ryuichi Sakamoto) is by far the most electric in the story. Each one saving face to his own people albeit trying to effect peace. It seems like their respective situations are forcing them to do that which they are not comfortable doing. In the end John Lawrence (Tom Conti) and Gengo Hara (Takeshi) effect what is an understanding of the futility and madness of war. A microcosm of the irrationality that is armed conflict and how quickly the tables turn. As if pleading to grant him the same mercy Hara simply references Fr. Christmas says Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence. As thought provoking as it was beautiful, Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence should be a staple in East Asian Discourse and there should be one in every home.

Miguel Llora

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An Exquisite Movie About Culture Clash
Hard to believe, but true. I saw this film when it first cameout and have been trying for years to get a copy. Thank youAmazon!

David Bowie plays a "soldier's soldier" parachuted onto Java during World War II to blow up the usual odds and ends. He surrenders rather than permit a village to be wiped out in reprisal and is sent to a Japanese POW camp, where the prisoners are treated with contempt and brutality. The Commandant, informed that the new prisoner is the epitome of the British Soldier, wishes to test his own ideas about what constitutes the perfect soldier. The ending is something of a surprise, but nontheless riviting. Tom Conti, playing the title character, is unique in that, for the first time in his career, he give a totally focused performance. The Japanese cast is wonderful and gave me a real view into the mindset of the Japanese soldier of that era. WARNING: a lot of plot development is carried out in Japanese. There are no sub-titles and dubbing would run the flow of the film (the central theme is about not understanding another culture, after all), so if you don't like wrestling with a movie, you should give this one a miss. If, on the other hand, you like a movie that demands a little intellectual exercise, here's your film.

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A sadly neglected film
Far from the usual Hollywood crapola is this unusual and stylish gem of a movie.

As pow's at a camp in occupied Indonesia, Col. John Lawrence (Tom Conti) and Major Jack "Strafer" Celliers (David Bowie) engage their Japanese captors in a test of wills and mores. Conti's Col. Lawrence is an affable but somewhat naive English officer simply trying to make the best of the brutal circumstances inflicted on him and his men. On the other hand, Bowie's Major Celliers is a charismatic but enigmatic figure who engages the Japanese in psychological mind games - to preserve his self respect, but also to protect others and exorcise from his conscience the memory of a betrayal.

The Japanese cannot understand soldiers who would surrender, rather than fight to the death, and treat their prisoners with the brutality and contempt they think the internees deserve. Sergeant of the Guard, Hara Gengo-san (Takeshi) is the embodiment of this mindset, and casually clubs and stomps his way through the prisoners - as well as his own men.

Ryuichi Sakamoto stars as Capt. Yonoi, the new commandant of the camp. Yonoi is a relatively decent man who at first tries to contain the violence of the guards, but finds himself caught between his own humanist tendencies and the old, warrior ethic. Yonoi is alternately fascinated and repulsed by Celliers, (and it is this tension that drives the movie) but tries to understand and accomodate him. Yet, in the end, he too is entrained by the samurai militancy of the soldiers around him.

The movie contains many memorable scenes. In one, an inexplicable and courageous act of kindness to Lawrence and Celliers by the brutal Sgt. Hara gives the film its name. In another, as powerful and moving as the above mentioned, captor and captive meet once again; only this time with their conditions reversed.

Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence is a great movie - very well acted, directed, scored and cinematographed. I first saw it about 20 years ago. A friend had told me, "It's just different, you'll see..." He was right.