Criterion | 1983 | 124 mins. | R
Don’t be fooled by the title; this movie isn’t the type to put you in the Christmas spirit. Set in World War II Japan at a P.O.W. camp where the guards regularly abuse the British and Australian inmates, Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence can hardly be called heartwarming. However, given the fact that the Japanese government has admitted their treatment of allied prisoners was at times downright brutal – and that the situation was one of extremes. Director Nagisa Oshima (In the Realm of the Senses) managed to create one the finest and most even-handed examinations of cross-cultural misunderstanding ever filmed.
It’s the later stages of the war; the story revolves around Colonel John Lawrence (Tom Conti), a British officer who has lived in Japan and speaks the language fluently. He is the Allied liaison officer in a Japanese P.O.W. camp in the East Indies. The camp is run by a young Captain Yonoi (Ryuichi Sakamoto), who is tormented by his own war related guilt. Despite the hostile relationship between the guards and the prisoners, Lawrence is able to maintain a fairly hospitable relationship with Yonoi, who has the most basic command of the English language. Lawrence also enjoys a tenuous understanding with the older Sgt. Gengo Hara (Takeshi), who does little to hide his contempt for the prisoners.
One day Yonoi is called to Batavia to partake in the trial of a captured English officer, the iconoclastic Captain Jack Celliers (David Bowie). At first sight, Yonoi is strangely fascinated by the rebellious Englishman. Yonoi saves him from a firing squad and then protects him within his own camp. However he doesn’t expect Celliers’ continued refusal to conform.
While Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence is indeed a war film, when looked at in a larger context, it’s really a study of cross-cultural miscommunication. Nagisa Oshima has given each of the main characters fully developed personalities, despite the fact that we see them in a setting of deep conflict and history has already imposed on them a certain set of actions and a clear sense of right and wrong. Each main character is given equal footing, no matter their nationality. All have their strengths and flaws and Oshima doesn’t shrink from showing them, but he also does not pass judgment on them or their actions, with the result that behind each and every action, no matter how seemingly unreasonable, is a human being, someone with whom we can on some level empathize.
That a director of Oshima’s caliber was able to work so well with his Japanese cast is not surprising, but that he was able to garner such fine performances from all the actors involved, is a testament to his talent. Tom Conti gives what may be one of the best performances of his career as Lawrence. A stayed, yet emotional performance, his character is the one all the others feed off of. Conti’s Japanese appears impressive; Somehow, Lawrence is able to remain fairly reasonable in the face of utter craziness. At the same time, Lawrence says the film’s single swear word, which is spat out with such fury that it gives full voice to his frustration at the intransigent attitude of both his captors and his own comrades.
Going in, I didn’t expect much acting wise from David Bowie and Ryuichi Sakamoto. Both international rock stars, I assumed Oshima made those casting choices with an eye toward the box office. To my surprise, the director’s choices serve the narrative very well. He clearly wanted Celliers to have a kind of iconic status and certainly Bowie provided that in spades. More importantly, both he and Ryuichi Sakamoto provided an undeniable charisma that was crucial to the narratives success. Bowie captures both the rebelliousness and inner turmoil of Celliers’ character, while the barely controlled anger in his statement to the court in which Yonoi first encounters him is particularly convincing. In a nod to his musical status, Oshima has Bowie as Celliers sing “Rock of Ages” painfully out of tune, and he later says, “I wish I could sing” without even a hint of irony.
Yonoi’s homoerotic fascination with Celliers is never fully explained, but that makes it more fascinating. Throughout the film, Nagisa Oshima keeps the audience wondering. Along the way, everything about the film is somehow mesmerizing. Sakamoto’s performance, savvy camera placement and movements, and Sakamoto’s own effective score brings everything together perfectly.
While the cultural gap seemed stacked against the prisoners at the start, their treatment is met with protests. As the story progresses, a kind of balance is reached. Yonoi’s determination to discover the names of weapons and munitions experts amongst the prisoners is matched by the equally determined British Group Captain Hicksley (Jack Thompson), who regards the Japanese simply as ‘the enemy’ and all attempts at communication with them as traitorous.
Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence isn’t filled with many overly dramatic moments. Instead, much of the movie’s greatness lies in its subtleties and the questions that remain unanswered. A surprisingly well done film, Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence should be seen by anyone who is interested in culture and/or Japanese/American relations during World War II.
The film has been framed at 1.78:1 and is anamorphically enhanced for widescreen televisions. Image quality is suprisingly erratic. some sequences are quite striking with excellent sharpness and vivid color, while others (especially those in lower light), look somewhat soupy. Black levels are can only be described as average. The subtitles, which are usually white but sometimes yellow, are easy to read.
The Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo surround track is very loud, so a volume adjustment seems advisable. Ryuichi Sakamoto’s haunting title theme gets prominent placement throughout the soundstage at several points during the movie. Dialogue is well recorded and placed in the center channel, but the track does occasionally display some low level hum and thumps during some quiet scenes.
The 2-Disc DVD set contains the bulk of special features on the second disc:
Disc One contains the Theatrical Trailer
The Oshima Gang (30 mins.) A 1983 making-of-featurette shot at the Cannes film festival; includes interviews with David Bowie, Tom Conti, and director Nagisa Oshima among others.
On the Screenplay (28 mins.) a 2010 interview with co-screenwriter Paul Mayersberg discussing how he got the job and how the script veered away from the original novel by Laurens van der Post.
On Location (40 mins.) Recorded in 2010, this has Tom Conti, Ryuichi Sakamoto and producer Jeremy Thomas discussing their experiences working on the movie.
On the Music (18 mins.) is another interview with Oscar-winning composer Ryuichi Sakamoto, this time talking about how he approached working on his first movie score.
Hasten Slowly (55 mins.) a 1996 documentary on novelist Laurens van der Post. He discusses his life and career, including some detailed information about his lengthy period in the prisoner of war camp and his later career as a journalist and social activist.
As always, Criterion has included a beautifully designed 29-page booklet containing cast and crew lists, some excellent color stills from the film, an analytical piece on the movie by educator Chuck Stephens, an interview with Oshima conducted in 1983 by film scholar Tadao Sato, and a 2010 interview with Takeshi Kitano about working with the legendary director.
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