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Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence: The (The Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray]

Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence: The (The Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray]

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Director: Nagisa Oshima
Actors: David Bowie, Tom Conti, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Takeshi Kitano, Jack Thompson
Studio: Criterion Collection
Category: DVD

List Price: $39.95
Buy New: $29.99
as of 9/9/2010 10:08 MDT details
You Save: $9.96 (25%)


Seller: Amazon.com
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars 2 reviews
Sales Rank: 2551

Format: Color, Widescreen
Languages: English (Original Language), Japanese (Original Language)
Rating: R (Restricted)
Media: Blu-ray
Region: 1
Discs: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.77:1
Running Time: 90 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6

UPC: 715515062015
EAN: 0715515062015
ASIN: B003UM8T3K

Theatrical Release Date: 1983
Release Date: September 28, 2010  (In 19 Days)
Shipping: Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Not yet released
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Editorial Reviews:

Product Description
In this captivating, exhilaratingly skewed World War II drama from Nagisa Oshima (In the Realm of the Senses, Empire of Passion), David Bowie (The Man Who Fell to Earth, Basquiat) regally embodies the character Celliers, a high-ranking British officer interned by the Japanese as a POW. Music star Ryuichi Sakamoto (who also composed this film’s hypnotic score) plays the camp commander, who becomes obsessed with the mysterious blond major, while Tom Conti (The Duellists; Reuben, Reuben) is British lieutenant colonel Mr. Lawrence, who tries to bridge the emotional and language divides between his captors and fellow prisoners. Also featuring actor-director Takeshi Kitano (Sonatine, Fireworks) in his first dramatic role, MERRY CHRISTMAS MR. LAWRENCE is a multilayered, brutal, at times erotic tale of culture clash that was one of Oshima’s greatest successes.

Customer Reviews:
5 out of 5 stars Rock Stars   August 2, 2010
Daitokuji31 (Black Glass)
12 out of 12 found this review helpful

As children we are imbued with imagery. From the color of fall leaves to the faded color of your grandmother's favorite sweater, these images become imprinted upon your brain. Living in a visual culture one cannot help that television and movies leave lasting impressions. Back during the early 1980s, a time in which I was enamored with Bugs Bunny, He-Man, Star Wars, and Indiana Jones, I watched a number of films with my dad. I can still remember scenes clearly from Samuel Fuller's The Big Red One and Stuart Rosenberg's Brubaker. The scene in Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence where David Bowie is buried up to his chin in sand is one of those scenes that remained in my memory for some twenty years before I learned its source.

Set in a Javanese prisoner of war camp, Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence mainly concerns man and his contact with the Other. However, who is actually considered the Other in the film? Are the British, Danish, or New Zealand soldiers considered the Other because they are the ones held captive or are the Japanese soldiers, the captors, considered the Other because their actions mystify the Western military men? Within this miasma of confusion stands Col. John Lawrence, a Brit fluent in Japanese and knowledgeable of Japanese culture who finds himself torn between loyalties to his fellow prisoners and relationships with Captain Yonoi, Sakamoto Ryuichi, and Sgt. Hara Gengo, Kitano Takeshi.

As a mediator between both sides, Lawrence tries to keep peace between Yonoi and the head of the prisoners Group Cpt. Hicksley. However, with the violent Hara, who beats both prisoners and his own men mercilessly, peace is tenuous at best.

Things in the camp truly change with the arrival of Maj. Jack Celliers, David Bowie, who Yonoi took a bit of a shine to when the former was on trial. Hoping Celliers can replace the hostile Hicksley, Yonoi looks carefully after the man's welfare, but Celliers has other ideas.

Always one to rock the boat, Oshima's film was the first Japanese war film told for the most part from the Westerner's point of view. Some of the best scenes in the movie were between Lawrence and Hara. While enemies, both men have a begrudging respect for each other. Hara considers Lawrence to be a good soldier and wonders how the lanky man can bare the shame of being a prisoner. Lawrence retorts that he and the other Western soldiers are waiting for the day they can fight again. Shrugging this off, Hara states that he had already given his life to his Emperor and Lawrence returns you are not dead yet. The seen between Hara and Lawrence at the end of the film is truly wonderful.

Beautifully scored by Sakamoto, Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence is a unique work in the annals of Japanese film. Tackling such issues as the Other from both sides, it leaves one wondering if harmony can truly be reached, but with its depictions of friendships that develop out of violence and hate, the film shows that these obstacles can be overcome even if the cost is high.


5 out of 5 stars WW2 Japanese Prison Camp Drama   July 16, 2010
Seen Them All (SoCal Desert)
8 out of 9 found this review helpful

Tom Conti is a British Officer who questions a Japanese officer (R Sakamoto) at the end of WW2. He asks questions about another British officer (David Bowie) who had been a prisoner of the Japanese in a camp commanded by Sakamoto. Told in flashbacks it's tells the difference in cultures between the British and Japanese. Sakakoto tries to break Bowie but in the end is taken prisoner by the British. Good story but sometime brutal and disturbing. Overall I recommend it for the 3 actors and the way the movie portrays what being a POW in a Japanese prison was like. Criterion is the best when remastering these older movies.

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