Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence

Introduction

Nagisa Ôshima is a well respected Japanese director who has been making films since 1959 but his first foray into English language films was the 1983 film Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence. An examination of the clash of Western and Eastern cultures, Ôshima set his film within the microcosm of a Japanese POW camp in 1942, using the novel The Seed and the Sower by Laurents Van Der Post as his source.

Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence also brought together two of these opposing cultures biggest rock stars in David Bowie and Ryuichi Sakamoto, electronic pioneer and founder member of Yellow Magic Orchestra. This film was also significant as the first straight acting role for famous Japanese comedian Takeshi Kitano.

Java, 1942. Colonel John Lawrence (Tom Conti) is the liaison officer between his fellow Allied POW's and their Japanese captors. His main counterpart is the rather brutal Sergeant Hara (Takeshi Kitano) who is subordinate only to the Camp Commandant, Captain Yonoi (Ryuichi Sakamoto). Although Lawrence understands the Japanese culture and attempts to make things easier for his fellow prisoners, most of them hold him in contempt for fraternising with the enemy, especially the Allied Commanding Officer of the POW camp, RAF Group Captain Hicksley (Jack Thompson).

One day, Yonoi is called to serve as part of a 3 man board at a military tribunal for captured allied soldier Captain Jack Celliers (David Bowie). Celliers is charged with acting against the general surrender order of the Allied Command when they capitulated to the Japanese invaders, but Celliers and his team of now dead commandoes had parachuted in after this time and were attempting to raise a guerrilla army amongst the natives. Celliers sees the tribunal as the farce it is and acts accordingly, treating the proceedings with contempt. Yonoi identifies with
Celliers as a fellow warrior but despises him for surrendering, despite his only reason for doing so was a Japanese threat of mass execution of Java natives. Sentenced to a mock execution, to which he proves his courage by refusing a blindfold (although this is explained as being for the firing squad rather than his benefit), Yonoi persuades his fellow judges to transfer Celliers to his POW camp.

And with this transfer begins a mass of conflict within Yonoi, his samurai upbringing and bushido code clashing with Celliers western sensibilities and disregard for following his captors rules. Celliers has a lot of guilt that he is
trying to come to terms with, whilst Yonoi is struggling with his feelings for Celliers - not so much a homosexual physical love but more a pure love for someone he considers as a perfect warrior.  Celliers, though, does his best to frustrate Yonoi and ultimately this has tragic consequences for both of them.

Visual

The picture looks much improved on the blu-ray format and has been remastered from the original 35mm prints but not as sharp as it could have been, maybe due to the age and condition of the print. Some close up scenes look very detailed whereas some of the wider longer shots have blurry elements to them.

Extras

The Oshima Gang - a making of featurette from the time of the film's production with interviews from all the main players. Compared to similar I've seen from older films from the 80's, this is a very reasonable length.

An Interview With Jeremy Thomas - interview with the producer from 2004, which seems a little odd, in which he reminisces about his time not only on this film but of other times he has worked with both Oshima and Kitano.

An Interview With Ryiuchi Sakamoto - another recent interview with the Japanese electronic pioneer, predominantly focussed on his leading role in this film. Bizarrely he is very critical of his acting, although his performance is near perfect. The atmospheric soundtrack to this film was created by Sakamoto in the guise of his character and Sakamoto also discloses that he wanted Bowie to sing the vocals on the single version of the film's main theme. Luckily Bowie wanted to focus purely on his acting as I don't think it would have sounded quite as good without David Sylvian's vocals.

An excerpt from Scenes By The Sea: The Life & Cinema of  "Beat" Takeshi Kitano - the Japanese comedian is now a highly successful director in his own right and this excerpt deals specifically with his time on this film. It seems that his role here was his first attempt at a straight serious role and he took it very seriously, although sadly the Japanese audience didn't seem to understand his change of direction and laughed at his performance - which is a little sad as it's a very subtle performance.

The one missed opportunity for this release is the omission of the rather gorgeous haunting vocal version of the main theme, Forbidden Colours by Ryuichi Sakamoto with David Sylvian (ex-Japan) on vocals.

Overall

Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence is a film that fully deserves its long delayed release onto blu-ray.  Ôshima manages to create a war film that really avoids the more usual cliches to really examine the differences between British and Japanese cultures. The Japanese treat their prisoners despicably due to their bushido code that will not allow them to surrender to an enemy. The prisoners on the other hand surrendered due to the Western culture of living to fight another day and not dying senselessly, therefore despising their captors who refuse to treat their prisoners humanely.

I've never really been a fan of David Bowie's film career but he really is excellent here as a man who is trying to make up for his past and the treatment he subjected his younger brother to at school. We see those school scenes in flashback but with Bowie playing himself, which look more than a little out of place if you look at it literally but I think it works well if he is remembering these times himself and therefore places himself into his subconscious as he looks now.

Ryuichi Sakamoto is superb as the proud and uptight Commandant, who despite his best intentions, finds himself falling in love with Celliers and his ideal as a fierce warrior.  Sakamoto is very critical of his acting but it is just on the right side of restrained and is a perfect counter balance to Bowie's character. Two key scenes between these two characters are when Celliers kisses Yonoi to distract him when he's about to execute Hicksley and also when Yonoi cuts a lock of hair from Celliers head when he is buried in a central compound as punishment.  Very powerful scenes full of tension.

If the main conflict is between Celliers and Yonoi, the main relationship of the film is that of Lawrence and Hara. Lawrence understands Hara and why he is so brutal and unforgiving, but he is also not without compassion. Their friendship becomes deeper as the film progresses, so much so that in the end Hara calls upon Lawrence to visit him just prior to his execution at the end of the war. It's a very poignant scene that leads to a rather beautiful and powerful ending.

Ultimately this film allows the viewer to understand the differences between the two cultures and also the racism that existed at that time between them. The Japanese may have thought their captors inferior due to their capture, but the British were also to a large degree guilty of racism too, embodied by the disgust held for Lawrence by his superior officer Hicksley.  The difference in cultures becomes even starker as the film ends after the war. Hara is baffled at his imminent execution, despite being reconciled to it, as he hasn't done anything wrong according to his cultural upbringing.  The British, though, have different moral standards and failing to understand the bushido code, execute captured Japanese soldiers for their brutality. Lawrence alone appears to understand the contradictions in this but is unable to do anything, a common theme for him in his role as the man in the middle.

I have to admit that although I loved this film back in '83, I see it now through different eyes and have a greater appreciation for it and the themes it tries to explore, all the while pulling on the viewers emotional strings with Ryuichi Sakamoto's haunting but triumphant soundtrack. 

Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence is a beautiful film and I can't recommend it enough.