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The Movie
The film deals with the relationships among
four men in a Japanese prisoner of war camp
during the Second World War
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- Jack Celliers (Bowie),
a rebellious prisoner with
a guilty secret from his youth in New Zealand;
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- Captain Yonoi (Sakamoto),
the young camp commandant;
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- Lieutenant Colonel John Lawrence (Conti),
a British officer who has lived in Japan and
speaks Japanese fluently;
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- Sergeant Hara (Kitano),
with whom Lawrence develops a peculiar friendship.
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Like Celliers, Yonoi, too, is tormented by guilt.
Having been posted to Manchuria previously,
he was unable to be in Tokyo
with his Army comrades,
the "Shining Young Officers" of
Japan's February 26 Incident,
a 1936 military coup d'état.
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When the coup fails,
the young army officers are executed.
Yonoi regrets not being able to
share their patriotic sacrifice.
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Jack Celliers had betrayed his
deformed younger brother
while the two of them were
attending boarding school.
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Although Celliers confesses this only to Lawrence,
Captain Yonoi senses in Celliers a kindred spirit.
He wants to replace the
British camp commandant Colonel Hicksley
with Celliers as spokesman for the prisoners.
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The taboo of homosexuality,
especially harsh in an otherwise ultranationalist
and traditional environment,
is suggested throughout the film.
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A Korean soldier is condemned to commit seppuku
after being caught in an "improper" relationship
with one of the Dutch prisoners.
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As the execution is carried out,
the Dutch prisoner,
who is forced to watch it along
with the rest of the prisoners
and the Japanese officials as well,
bites his tongue and then
dies of suffocation himself.
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As Celliers is interned in the camp,
Yonoi seems to develop a
homoerotic fixation with him,
often asking about him to Hara,
silently visiting him in the small hours
when Celliers is confined
and, later on,
buried in the ground up to his neck
as a means of punishment.
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As the allies approach the camp,
all prisoners are prompted to
form outside the barracks,
including sick and moribund ones.
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The climax of the film is reached by then,
when Celliers breaks the rank and
walks decidedly in Yonoi's direction,
only to end up resolutely kissing him
in the cheek with a straight face.
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This is an unbearable offense to
Yonoi's bushido honor code;
he reaches out for his katana against Celliers,
only to collapse under the conflicting feelings
of vindicating himself from
the offense suffered in front of his troops
and his own feelings for Celliers,
who is subsequently sentenced to death.
Captain Yonoi himself is redeployed.
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Analysis
The film deals with
communication between cultures.
Lawrence is the only one who can
effectively communicate with the Japanese officers,
but the British camp commandant,
Colonel Hicksley, sees his liaison with
the Japanese as a betrayal.
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Each culture has its own code of conduct,
each of which is unfathomable to the other.
Lawrence tries to bridge the gap,
but he is hampered by the fact that
Yonoi and Hara don't understand
– nor try to understand – the British
as well as Lawrence understands
– or tries to understand – the Japanese.
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Psychological and psychoanalytical reasons
for the way people act in time of
war are closely examined.
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The tension of an unaccepted homoerotic disposition
towards a foreign prisoner seizing the otherwise
ultranationalist and conservative Captain Yonoi
seems to be one of the main mottos as well.
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Both Ryuichi Sakamoto and David Bowie were
superstars in their own cultures.
A strong sense of national identity is established.
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The film is seen mainly from the British point of view,
although filmed by a Japanese director.
It is an even-handed treatment of
intercultural communication,
and the controlling power of desire
and the unexpected forms that it can take.
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The English title of the movie
hints at its main theme,
of which Christmas represents a time of
forgiveness and new birth.
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We witness this forgiveness in the key relationships
between Lawrence and Hara,
as Lawrence attempts to
communicate with his captors,
resulting in his drunken Christmas reprieve.
Also we see the peculiar relationship between
Yonoi and Celliers develop,
culminating in the kiss scene.
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In the film's final scene, with the war over
and Hara now the prisoner,
Lawrence pays him a visit.
It is here that he contemplates that
both sides of the war committed atrocities
- with no side being in the right,
and would release Hara from
his death sentence if he could.
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To this, Hara wishes Lawrence a "Merry Christmas"
- suggesting that despite the war's atrocities,
all can be forgiven.
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Music
The film is mostly known for its soundtrack,
by Ryuichi Sakamoto.
The main score,
which bears the same title as the movie,
ranks among Sakamoto's most well-known songs
and made him known to a broader public.
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Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence /
Ryuichi Sakamoto Trio 1996
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Today…
Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence FYI / Utada Hikaru
Come back to Me / Utada Hikaru
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these two songs are actually lovely
the responses in US
are actually better than
her 1st English album, Exodus
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I got this funny feeling
listening to Utada
at times I think she sounds like
Mariah Carey
minus the part of pronunciation
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then then
at certain point
i was like suddenly realizing
“hey back to reality
this is utada”
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maybe this is positive point too
Utada is the unique Utada
this is the one…
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In 2008, Indonesian singer Anggun
used a sample from this song in her song
Seize the Moment / Anggun
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