Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence
Director: Nagisa Oshima
Genre: LGBT, War film, Homoeroticism, Period piece, Film adaptation, Prison film, Drama, Japanese Movies
Year: 1983
Country: Japan, United Kingdom, New Zealand
Language: Japanese Language, English Language
Starring: David Bowie, Tom Conti, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Takeshi Kitano, Alistair Browning, Jack Thompson, Johnny Okura
Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence (Japanese: Senjō no Merī Kurisumasu (戦場のメリークリスマス, Battlefield Merry Christmas), also known as Furyo in many European editions) is a 1983 film directed by Nagisa Oshima, produced by Jeremy Thomas and starring David Bowie, Tom Conti, Ryuichi Sakamoto and Takeshi Kitano.
It was written by Oshima and Paul Mayersberg and based on Laurens van der Post's experiences during World War II as a prisoner of war as depicted in his works The Seed and the Sower (1963) and The Night of the New Moon (1970). Sakamoto also wrote the musical score and the vocal theme "Forbidden Colours," featuring David Sylvian, which was a hit single in many territories.
The film was entered into the 1983 Cannes Film Festival in competition for the Palme d'Or. Sakamoto's score also won the film a BAFTA Award for Best Film Music.
The film deals with the relationships among four men in a Japanese prisoner of war camp during the Second World War — Major Jack Celliers (Bowie), a rebellious prisoner with a guilty secret from his youth; Captain Yonoi (Sakamoto), the young camp commandant; Lieutenant Colonel John Lawrence (Conti), a British officer who has lived in Japan and speaks Japanese
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Internet Movie Database