Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence (1983) Reviews

• Had to swallow a lump or two

  Inakaguy2004-07-17

  I remembered watching this movie when I was younger and it affecting me a lot. Well, I re-watched it recently and it has lost none of it's power. The acting in the movie is adequate without ever being great (the notable exception being Tom Conti who is fantastic in his role as the misunderstood titular character). However, the movie moves beyond the acting and once you are embroiled in the atmosphere and realism you become oblivious to any acting shortcomings. The movie must be one of the most accurate depictions of human nature in a war. It has a diverse range of characters yet none of them becomes a caricature. It certainly doesn't sink into the good vs evil mindset that many war movies do. The violence is graphic and shocking despite lacking the visceral realism of Spielberg's later war movies. The ending of the movie still affects me, even after repeated viewings. I still have to a lump or two to stop from crying even now. Overall, recommended for anyone with an interest in a non-stereotypical movie about war. Not for the faint of heart though.

• enters the heart and stays there forever

  rogierr2001-12-25

  Do not mistake this masterpiece for a Capra Christmas movie. It is a war film without action (but with atrocities) that opens your eyes and is incredibly versatile and therefore applicable to any war that knows a winner and a loser. The story is completely about perspectives and motives: power-madness and despair. Some might find MCML hard to stomach while watching, some afterwards. But I say you have to watch it through to appreciate the concepts fully. Moreover, I say you shouldn't vote it before you've seen all of it; that way the rating wouldn't be as low as 6.9. MCML is one of those films that surpass movies like 'Platoon' (Stone, 1986) on any level. Added to all that, it's also beautifully shot by cinematographer Toichiro Naroshima (Double Suicide). One of the best scores in history of cinema by Ryuichi Sakamoto (also 'Wild Palms' and 'Sheltering Sky'), who not only provides it with his strokes of musical genius, but also plays an important role: the androgynous and curious captain in contrast to the virility of Takeshi Kitano (dir and acted Violent Cop, Brother, Hana Bi) the self-confident and straight-forward sergeant. If you've seen any of Kitano's movies, his character in MCML will gain from that. I guess director Nagisa Oshima (Naked Youth, Gohatto) likes to play with feminine and masculine characters. David Bowie fits in brilliantly from that perspective. His character is the most complex and worked out the deepest. My opinion is that this is his best and most intriguing role so far ('the Man who fell to earth' came close). Conti ('If we'll do it, he'll do it') plays a key figure between the Japanese and the POW. On which side to lose a war? When to intimidate and when to be intimidated? Which side are you on anyway? 'There are times victory is very hard to take' - Colonel John Lawrence. Not without reason sergeant Gengo Hara says 'Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence' not: 'Merry Christmas Colonel Lawrence'. Are you intimidated by an initiation? Or still not when you're POW and the only free part of your body is your head? These are questions the film raises. Unfortunately I can't compare the film to the book, because I haven't read it. MCML is immensely powerful, and really underrated. 10/10

• One of the finest war films ever made.

  monkeypunch2003-10-31

  I first saw this on IFC one night and was enthralled by it. Apparently there are two versions of the film, one with english subtitles and one without. I saw the version without the subtitles. See the film like this put you in the position of the prisoners, not understanding what is being said around you, and having to rely on translators, who in a prison camp were few. The film starts off with Japanese icon Takeshi Kitano walking into a hut and waking up Col. Lawrence (played by Tom Conti). Lawrence's superior protests this and Sgt. Hara (Kitano) yells something to him in Japanese. While walking out of the hut The superior (don't recall his name but he was played by Jack Thompson) orders another soldier to follow him, Hara protests and uses the scabbard of his sword and hits him in the eye, Hara walks out and Thompson yells "B**tards!" (or something similar). We then see Lawrence following Hara and then Ryuichi Sakamoto's beautiful, eerie music starts off the opening credits. I won't dive any deeper into the plot, as one should witness it for themselves. The film shows us how the prisoners and the guards are not all that different, they both view themselves as being right, when at one point in the film some one says no one is right in war. The film also shows us the physical and the mental abuse the prisoners had to live with day in and day out. Besides dealing with the war it also shows how man deals with events from the past as far as ones childhood, But in this film it actually works, not like in countless others, and you do feel attached to the characters. A lot has been said about David Bowie's performance as Major. Jack Celliers, who despite the title of the film is the lead character and does an excellent job portraying a burnt out commando with a past he is afraid to face. Shortly after seeing the unsubbed version, I saw the subbed version. Which is good in its own right, but I feel the film doesn't have the same impact if you know what is going to happen at every corner, now about half of the film is in Japanese for those with patience it pays off. By not knowing whats going on it puts you in the position of the prisoners themselves. The film is a beautiful, tragic look at the atrocities man commits to himself. I encourage film and WW II buffs looking for something different to give it a chance. Another unseen by many gem directed by Nagisa Oshima. ****/****

• Two pop stars and a comedian turn out to be really good in war atrocity film

  Clive-Silas2003-05-22

  When this movie first came out, I remember the movie critics were very snippy about David Bowie's apparently "spaced out" performance. In actual fact he demonstrated an ability to genuinely dig deep into a complex emotional pit to produce an incredibly watchable performance. In addition, the casting of Bowie "against type" enables one to see more in Jack Cellier than the typical quiet British War Hero with a tragic past. Just by dint of his being played by Bowie adds a necessary varnish of mysteriousness and removes the possibility of clichéd playing. Ryuichi Sakamoto similarly was able to completely subsume his pop-icon persona into a utterly convincing portrayal of an honourable but damaged Japanese army officer. In my view his is one of the greatest performances by a Japanese actor in an English language film. Scenes between Bowie and Sakamoto are rare, but well worth the wait. Takeshi Kitano (famous Japanese comedian "Beat" Takeshi, more recently a renowned director) brilliantly performs as the typically brutal camp sergeant, and then successfully shows that even this character is not actually all bad: he has a sense of humour; he has a family who miss him. Tom Conti gave one of his finest film performances as the utterly human liaison officer, the Mr Lawrence of the title. Jack Thompson does the bluff British officer (being Australian, perhaps he overdoes the "Now look heah!" accent a little) - and then, at the point of facing a summary execution, he gives out a harrowing, quavering cry, showing the complete collapse of his stiff upper lip. It can be difficult to "get" exactly what this movie is about - Cellier and his hunchback brother? Lawrence trying to keep the peace until all his best efforts appear to result in his own death, and how he handles that? The relationship between Cellier and Yonoi? The point is that as a movie, it really doesn't matter. It's an actors' movie, and the best thing is just to watch the brilliant performances.

• almost unbearably moving

  seamuss2001-02-07

  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. Sakamoto, who is also a pioneer of electronic music with the Yellow Magic Orchestra, also wrote the soundtrack, including the famous "Forbidden Colours" theme (you probably know this even if you don't know where it's from) which conjures up the atmosphere of regret, lost love and repressed heartbreak in which we see the strange, unrequited love of Sakamoto's character for Bowie's. This film is about this impossible unrequited love and about the struggle of human values in wartime. As Lawrence (Conti) says to a Japanese Officer facing execution after the war; he is now the victim of "men who are sure they are right", just as in the camp the Japanese were sure they were right. The last scene between the decent, humane Lawrence and this officer, who was by turns hearty and brutal in the camp, is one of the most heartbreaking ever committed to celluloid.