Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence (DVD)

In 1942, many British prisoners (and other nationalities) are languishing in Japanese prisoner of war camps in Java. Colonel John Lawrence is one of them and, being a Japanese speaker and student of the Japanese culture, he is a valuable medium between the prisoners and the Japanese running it - he is particularly close to Captain Yonoi, the head of the camp, and Sergeant Gengo Hara. Then a new prisoner arrives, Major Jack Celliers, a New Zealander ...
...the beatings and punishments that they throw his way, which puts Lawrence in a difficult position. Thankfully Captain Yonoi seems to take a liking to Celliers. Will this save his life? And will Lawrence be able to maintain his respect for the Japanese while putting his own country first?

Made back in 1983, this film had a massive impact on me at the time, with long-lasting results. Firstly, I was a huge fan of David Bowie, who takes ... more

In 1942, many British prisoners (and other nationalities) are languishing in Japanese prisoner of war camps in Java. Colonel John Lawrence is one of them and, being a Japanese speaker and student of the Japanese culture, he is a valuable medium between the prisoners and the Japanese running it - he is particularly close to Captain Yonoi, the head of the camp, and Sergeant Gengo Hara. Then a new prisoner arrives, Major Jack Celliers, a New Zealander who refuses to bow down to the Japanese, despite all the beatings and punishments that they throw his way, which puts Lawrence in a difficult position. Thankfully Captain Yonoi seems to take a liking to Celliers. Will this save his life? And will Lawrence be able to maintain his respect for the Japanese while putting his own country first?

Made back in 1983, this film had a massive impact on me at the time, with long-lasting results. Firstly, I was a huge fan of David Bowie, who takes on the role of Jack Celliers. Secondly, I was a huge fan of David Sylvian, who had a hit with a vocal version of part of Ryuichi Sakamoto's beautiful soundtrack from the film. Thirdly, it made me look at the world in a different light - suddenly, the Japanese weren't necessarily the evil people I had always believed them to be (I was only just in my teens at the time). And as a result of Tom Conti's impressive grasp of the Japanese language, I became fascinated by the Far East and its languages, and eventually went on to study Chinese at University before living in China for many years. So perhaps you can understand that this film has always had a special place in my life, although I am the first to admit that it is not flawless.

Much as I love David Bowie's music, I have always had to admit that his acting can be a bit touch and go. I do, however, think that the Jack Celliers role is the best thing that he has done. When director Nagisa Oshima was looking for someone to take on the role, he wanted someone without the affectations of well-established actors, who could be natural in the role without putting on an act as such. And I think that it is true to say that Bowie probably doesn't act all that much here. However, he does look the part and is plenty convincing enough. In fact, towards the end of the film in particular, his performance is spine-chilling. My only complaints are that he doesn't even attempt to put on a New Zealand accent, although his on-screen brother has one, and, for reasons that I don't completely understand, he plays himself as a schoolboy in a series of flashbacks. Now, I think he looked great for his age - he was about 36 at the time - but making him look 18 is pushing it a bit.

David Bowie, and Ryuichi Sakamoto, who plays Captain Yonoi and is, or was, Japan's equivalent to David Bowie's superstardom, are the big names that helped to make this film famous, at least at the time. However, Tom Conti's performance as John Lawrence is the one that really brings the film together, in what I think is his best film role ever. Lawrence is put in an incredibly difficult position, trying to up the morale of the prisoners, while keeping the Japanese happy. And he genuinely has feelings for the Japanese, recognising that they are just men too. Conti manages to keep a tight control of his performance, except for when he is being beaten, when the pain in his face is all too convincing. What impressed me most though is his ability to speak Japanese. I only speak a little Japanese, so can't really comment on his accent, but considering he had just a week to learn his Japanese lines, I think he did incredibly well - at least he rocketed them out like nobody's business.

Ryuichi Sakamoto is brilliant as Captain Yonoi, managing to portray him as the tough camp commander who will not allow for insubordination, whilst showing that he does have feelings underneath. He doesn't have that much time on screen, but it is enough for him to be able to show that he has feelings for Celliers and is deeply fascinated by him, whilst being horrified of his potential homosexuality. A Japanese comedy star, Takeshi, takes on the role as Sgt. Gengo Hara. Although this is very far from being a comic role, he again does manage to inject a little bit of humour into the film, particularly when drunk, without it ever seeming unnecessary. And he does have the last heart-breaking line of the movie. Both of these Japanese actors speak English, although they do speak Japanese to each other, with subtitles for us - something that I really appreciated - I hate it when foreign actors are made to speak English in situations where they would naturally speak in their own language.

The only actor that I didn't have much time for was Jack Thompson as Group Captain Hicksley. Obviously from a well-to-do background, he overdid the posh accent, and being an annoying character anyway, just made me flinch every time he came on screen.

What is interesting about this film, and was fairly original in its day, was the portrayal of both sides of the war divide as human, by a joint British/Japanese team. That is not to say that it skirted the Japanese brutality - the prisoners were regularly beaten and there is no attempt to lighten this - but it does give a more balanced view of the horrors of war for both sides, looking at aspects of culture that make the men act in the way that they do. The story is based on the novel, The Seed and The Sower, by Laurens Van Der Post, who based Lawrence on his own war experiences, which makes the film all the more heart-rending. I have read the book myself, many years ago, but am sure that a lot of the nuances are glossed over; however, I think the story is a compelling one, with many aspects shown, including Cellier's past in New Zealand, the Western/Japanese culture divide, relationships between men during a state of war, and a touch of homosexuality thrown in for good measure (although it is nothing more than hinted at). And the ending, when it comes, is particularly poignant - far more so now than when I was a teenager.

Although David Bowie's assistance was apparently requested in the making of the soundtrack for the film, he turned the opportunity down, wanting to, quite rightly in my opinion, concentrate on the acting side. Personally, I don't think that Ryuichi Sakamoto, responsible for the soundtrack, needed any assistance, because he came up with a hauntingly beautiful classical soundtrack that manages to sound both Japanese and Western at the same time. I am not a great lover of film scores, often finding them boring and just a teeny bit pretentious, but I will make room for this one any time. And the setting for the film, which is supposed to be Java, but is actually the Cook Islands, complements the beauty of the score perfectly.

I rarely look at DVD extras, believing them to be largely a pointless excuse for adding to the price of DVDs. However, my affection for this film persuaded me to take a look, and I am glad I did. There is a half hour documentary into the making of the film, including interviews with all the main players. This is fascinating - I was particularly impressed to find that director Nagisa Oshima generally took no more than two takes of each scene, preferring to spend time beforehand listening to the actors and anyone else involved so that when he did a take, it was generally right first time. I also enjoyed finding out the background to the film and how the team was brought together. Then there is a great interview with Ryuichi Sakamoto in English, where he explains what it was like to work with the great Nagisa Oshima, Takeshi and David Bowie. A brief look at Takeshi, the Japanese actor and his work is great if you are interested in Japanese culture, but probably not worth bothering with otherwise. There is also an incredibly dull interview with Jeremy Thomas, the producer, who doesn't really say anything that can't be heard much less monotonously in the other bits - however, it is worth a look if you are a real film buff. Finally, there is the theatrical trailer.

I started this review thinking that I would award it four stars out of five for a competent, if not outstanding film. However, the more I think about it, the more oustanding I think the film is. It was much better for this time of watching (I last saw it about ten years ago) - possibly because of my age, I have a deeper understanding of the characters and the situation in which they found themselves. And I'm actually hard-pushed to find anything I dislike about the film, with the exception of Jack Thompson's performance. It is certainly much deeper and thought-provoking than your average war film and the ending is wonderfully poignant. And perhaps because it is set during the Second World War with no special effects, it looks as fresh today as it did the year it was made. It is, of course, a must-see if you are a Bowie fan (why haven't you seen it before?!), but I think it is worth seeing even if you hate him - you might just be surprised. It changed my life, or at least the path I chose, it might just change yours!! Highly recommended.

The DVD is available from play.com for £4.99.

Classification: 15

Running time: 124 minutes 

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