“Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence” (1983)This was Oshima's answer to "The Bridge Over the River Kwai." Once again playing a man who fell to Earth, David Bowie is Jack Callier, an RAF major with a dark secret who is discovered parachuting into Japanese-occupied Java. He is soon placed in a POW camp lead by Capt. Yonoi (played by composer Ryuichi Sakamoto, who also did the movie's very '80s synth score). Yonoi quickly finds himself unnerved by both ...
more “Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence” (1983)This was Oshima's answer to "The Bridge Over the River Kwai." Once again playing a man who fell to Earth, David Bowie is Jack Callier, an RAF major with a dark secret who is discovered parachuting into Japanese-occupied Java. He is soon placed in a POW camp lead by Capt. Yonoi (played by composer Ryuichi Sakamoto, who also did the movie's very '80s synth score). Yonoi quickly finds himself unnerved by both Callier's inner strength and his physical beauty. This is Bowie after all. As Callier, who quickly becomes a leader among the POWs, initiates one act of defiance after another, he is locked in a fierce contest of wills with the closeted Yonoi. At the film's climax, the confused captain literally doesn't know if he should kiss Callier or lop off his head. Ultimately, "Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence" -- Oshima's first in a foreign language -- is uneven, but it still remains a powerful, memorable wartime drama.
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