Originally posted by panzerboy
Hey IronMike USMC I haven' heard of that movie whats it about?
Thanks
Semper fi!!
:thumb::thumb:
The moive came out in1983.
Tom Conti plays Col. John Lawrence, who I believe, is a British medical officer, from the fall of Singapore. David Bowie plays Maj. Jack 'Strafer' Celliers, a captured commando, who is placed in the prison camp. Ryuichi Sakamoto plays Capt. Yonoi, the camp commander.
Lawrence and Celliers had met prior to the war. Much of the film tries to explain the Japanese 'warrior code', and counterpoints it against the Western attitudes toward survival and honor. There are a number of flashbacks for Jack Celliers, which try to explain the type of man he is. This is important, because he has a rather strong influence on the Capt. who can't quite figure him out.
The IMDB web site,
http://www.imdb.com, has this as the main description of the movie:
In 1942 British soldier Jack Celliers comes to a japanese prison camp. The camp is run by Yonoi, who has a firm belief in discipline, honour and glory. In his view, the allied prisoners are cowards when they chose to surrender instead of commiting suicide. One of the prisoners, interpreter John Lawrence, tries to explain the japanese way of thinking, but is considered a traitor.
Based on Laurens van der Post's "The Seed and the Sower", "Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence" is an involving, almost unbearably moving and incredibly humane film. While Bowie toplines, the real star is Tom Conti as the eponymous British Officer trying to reconcile his respect for Japanese culture and innate humanity with the barbarity of the POW camp. Bowie has often been criticised for his acting, yet aside from a rather laughable flashback sequence where he impersonates a schoolboy, he is convincing as a mysterious and spirited "soldier's soldier" who has a beguiling effect on the young officer commanding the camp, played by Ryuichi Sakamoto, who quotes Shakespeare and issues brutal orders in almost the same breath.
This a better description. However, the reviewer is incorrect, about the interview between Lawrence and the Japanese officer, after the war. The interview is actually with the top sargent of the camp, Sgt. Gengo Hara, played by Takeshi Kitano.
It is definitely worth the near two hours to watch.