Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence

Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence, also known as Furyō and Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence in countries Spanish-speaking, is a British-Japanese film directed by Nagisa Ōshima and released on May 10, 1983. It is based on The Seed and The Sower, an autobiographical novel written by Laurens van der Post It starred David Bowie, Ryūichi Sakamoto, Takeshi Kitano, and Tom Conti in their lead roles.

The music, composed by Sakamoto, won the Bafta Award for Best Score in 1984 and contains some of the Japanese artist's most popular compositions. Oshima, for his part, earned a Palme d'Or nomination at the Cannes Film Festival of 1983.

Plot

Java, 1942. During World War II, British Major Jack Celliers (David Bowie) is sent to a Japanese prison camp after being captured. The camp commander, Captain Yonoi (Ryūichi Sakamoto), imposes values such as discipline, honor and glory in the purest Japanese style, but his jealousy hides a repressed homosexuality since revealing it would bring him absolute ignominy. The captain, in his extreme zeal for honor and glory, claims that the Allied soldiers are cowards in turning themselves in rather than committing suicide. However, Yonoi falls in love with Celliers, causing tensions between guards and prisoners, to which must be added the clash of the Japanese mentality against the British one. One of the prisoners, Lieutenant Colonel John Lawrence (Tom Conti), will try to explain to his companions the way of thinking of the Japanese, but they will consider him a traitor.

Cast

• David Bowie as Jack "Strafer" Celliers
• Tom Conti like John Lawrence
• Ryūichi Sakamoto as Captain Yonoi
• Takeshi Kitano as Sergeant Gengō Hara
• Jack Thompson as Hicksley
• Johnny Okura like Kanemoto
• Alistair Browning as De Jong
• Yūya Uchida as Commander of the Military Prison
• Ryūnosuke Kaneda as President of the Court
• Takashi Naitō as Lieutenant Iwata
• Tamio Ishikura as Prosecutor
• Rokkō Toura as Performer
• Kan Mikami as Lieutenant Itō
• Yūji Honma as Yajima
• Daisuke Iijima as Cabo Ueki
• Hideo Murota as New Commander of Military Prison
• Barry Dorking as Doctor
• Geoff Clendon as an Australian Doctor
• Chris Broun like Jack Celliers (young)
• James Malcolm as Brother of Celliers

Reception

The film obtains a positive reception in the cinematographic information portals. Fotogramas magazine gives it 4 out of 5 stars.

On IMDb, with 13,087 reviews, it gets a score of 7.3 out of 10.

"I remembered seeing this movie when I was younger and it really affected me. I saw her again recently and she hasn't lost any of her impact. The performance in the film is adequate without ever being sublime (...) however (...) once you are wrapped in the atmosphere you forget any lack. (...) It is one of the most precise representations of human nature in war. (...) Violence is graphic and shocking even though it lacks the visceral realism of Spielberg's latest war films. The end still affects me even after repeated visions. I generally recommend it for anyone interested in a non-stereotypical film about war. It's not for the weak of heart, though.

Inakaguy Criticism in IMDB [1]

On FilmAffinity, with 2,751 votes, it has a rating of 6.8 out of 10.

"The masterpiece of Nagisa Oshima, based on the novel The seed and the sower of Sir Laurens van der Post, in which all human values and relations between prisoner and jailer are enhanced, and in which all the injustices that bring with it a war with great rawness and hyperrealism are addressed. Sakamoto's music is excellent and brilliant interpretations all... David Bowie offers a Captain Celliers who is, far away, the best role of his career. On the other hand, Tom Conti's conversations and the genius Takeshi Kitano are impagable..."

Borja Murel Criticism in FilmAffinity [2]