The prospect of seeing a young(ish) David Bowie onscreen is certainly not the least attraction in viewing Nagisa Oshima’s interesting take on the WWII prisoner of war genre. Be assured that Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence (hereafter: Merry Christmas) has a whole lot more going for it than just it’s icon clad cast. Bringing a Japanese perspective (to an English speaking audience) on a subject that has mostly been canvassed by filmmakers from the ‘allied’ side, Oshima’s portrayal of some goings on in a Japanese WWII prisoner of war camp is at once refreshing and challenging.
Merry Christmas ostensibly follows the story of Major Jack ‘Strafer’ Celliers (David Bowie), a British soldier captured in a guerrilla action on the Japanese held island of Java in Indonesia. Given a farce of a trial he is transferred to a POW camp run by the highly disciplined Captain Yonoi (Ryuichi Sakamoto). In reality the director presents several sides of a similar story played out through a quadrangle of protagonists consisting of the two mentioned above and also English POW Colonel John Lawrence (Tom Conti) and Japanese Sergeant Gengo Hara (Takeshi Kitano). There are several relationship pairings made up from these four men which are utilised by the director to outwork his thematic ends. On the one hand we have the pair of British officers finding solidarity in a hostile environment – it turns out that Celliers & Lawrence have served together previously – and likewise the pair of Japanese soldiers trying to create a prison of their own cultural making on foreign soil. On the other hand we have the developing connection between these enemy soldiers across the cultural divide.
That Oshima is exploring the issue of the clash of cultures is obvious, but the methods he employs make this a clever and narratively interesting piece of cinema. Part of the beauty in Merry Christmas is the way the narrative pivots on these evolving relationships and the character contrasts both within each pair and also between the pairs. Maj. Celliers is all independent defiance to Capt. Yonoi’s disciplined sense order whilst Sgt. Hara and Colonel Lawrence seem to share the beginnings of a kind of shaky friendship. As these men traverse the film their self awareness is stretched and their paradigms are challenged to differing ends. Celliers and Yonoi – both strong proud men – are strangely drawn to each other. Their increasing mutual respect revolves somewhat around the strength and commitment of each to their disparately expressed cultural values, and that they cannot overcome these sees each approach a tragic end. Conversely, Hara and Lawrence find themselves growing in compassion as they each grow in understanding of the other – though their somewhat more peacefully resolved end is no less tragic.
The casting of a pair of musical icons in the reciprocal roles of Celliers and Yonoi was an interesting choice which no doubt flavours the perception of the audience. Sakamoto (an award winning Japanese electronica/pop musician), despite stumbling through a few lines, still manages to embody essence of his disciplined and spiritually aware character. It is Bowie, however, who stands out as the best fitted to the task. What he lacks in natural acting ability he more than makes up for in pure charismatic presence. Whenever he is onscreen he owns the shot with a magnetism that is difficult to describe. Veteran actor Tom Conti delivers an anchoring performance in the role of the titular Colonel Lawrence but one fo the films true treats is to witness the (arguable) dramatic birth of Takeshi Kitano who has since gone on to become one of Japan’s most idiosyncratic and critically acclaimed actor/auteurs (Violent Cop, Sonatine, Hana-bi, Battle Royale, & Zatoichi amongst others). Kitano imbues an authentic sense of human dichotomy in Hara; displaying both a grim harshness and empathetic warmth which rings true to the character.
My overall impression of Merry Christmas is that of a somewhat surrealist human drama couched within the structure of a POW film. Sakamoto’s score for the film adds an extra layer of tonal complexity to the piece taking unexpected directions that deftly direct the emotional impact of a number of scenes, like a dream sequence. The film is not without its faults: as evidenced in some of the poorly captured fighting sequences where you can clearly see punches missing, and also in the clearly New Zealand accents of a number of ‘Brits’ – particularly in Celliers’ flashback sequences. Despite these minor missteps Oshima has delivered a truly compelling drama which easily stands the scrutiny of viewing some 25 odd years on from its release. And did I mention that it stars David Bowie?!
DVD Info + Special Features This single disc Umbrella entertainment release comes with a decent transfer and a reasonable soundtrack. The special features – surprisingly dense for a single disc – are the kind to make me glad of the advent of DVDs with a making of featurette and interviews which shed light on both the filmmaking process and the experience of many of the actors and crew. Included is a retrospective interview with Ryuichi Sakamoto in which he comments on his experience working with David Bowie which is particularly interesting.
» All Region PAL » Aspect Ratio: 1.77:1 (Widescreen 16:9) » Language: English/Japanese (Dolby Digital 2.0) » Subtitles: English
» Feature » The Oshima Gang featurette – The making of Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence (30min) » Interview with Jeremy Thomas (producer) » Interview with Ryuichi Sakamoto (actor & musical score writer) » Theatrical trailer
Reviewed by: Jacob Powell Rating: M – contains violence Duration: 118min Genre: Avant-garde prisoner of war drama Director: Nagisa Oshima (1982) Actors: David Bowie, Takeshi Kitano, Tom Conti, Ryuichi Sakamoto, & Jack Thompson. Country: UK / Japan Distributor: Vendetta.
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