Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence
Encyclopedia
Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (Japanese: , also known as Furyo in many European editions) is a 1983 film
directed
by Nagisa Oshima
, produced
by Jeremy Thomas
and starring Jack Thompson
, David Bowie
, Tom Conti
, Ryuichi Sakamoto
, Yuya Uchida
, 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
.
officer who has lived in Japan
and speaks Japanese fluently; and Sergeant Hara (Kitano) who is seemingly brutal and yet humane in some ways and with whom Lawrence develops a peculiar friendship.
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. When the coup fails, the young army officers are executed. Yonoi regrets not being able to share their patriotic sacrifice. Jack Celliers had betrayed his younger brother while the two of them were attending boarding school. Although Celliers confesses this only to Lawrence, Captain Yonoi senses in Celliers a kindred spirit. He wants to replace the British camp commandant Group Captain Hicksley with Celliers as spokesman for the prisoners.
The taboo of homosexuality, especially harsh in an otherwise ultranationalist and traditional environment, is suggested throughout the film. A Korean soldier is condemned to commit seppuku
after being caught in an "improper" relationship with one of the Dutch prisoners. 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. Captain Yonoi is enraged when he sees the prisoners behaving in what he sees as a cowardly way for not wanting to witness the death.
As Celliers is interned in the camp, Yonoi seems to develop a homoerotic fixation with him, often asking Hara about him, silently visiting him in the small hours when Celliers is confined. However, later on, Yonoi becomes enraged by Celliers' behaviour and has him and Lawrence thrown into the punishment cells under the charge of possessing a wireless. Celliers, who is known by the nickname of "Straffer" Jack (A straffer is a "soldier's soldier"), instigates a small number of rebellious actions, one of which is supplying the men with food after their rations have been suspended for three days for their actions during the seppuku, which Yonoi deems as "spiritually lazy."
Yonoi's batman suspects the mental hold that Celliers has on Yonoi so he tries to kill Celliers but fails in the attempt. Celliers manages to escape his cell and rescues Lawrence, only to be thwarted by Yonoi unexpectedly. Yonoi challenges Celliers to single combat saying "If you defeat me, you will be free" but Celliers refuses. Yonoi's batman then commits seppuku in atonement after urging Yonoi to kill Celliers before Celliers can destroy Yonoi.
It is Christmas Eve and Sgt Hara is drinking heavily and orders both Celliers and Lawrence to be brought to him. Hara then advises them that he is playing "Santa Claus" and is ordering their release because a prisoner confesses having the radio. He then calls out in English for the first time "Merry Christmas Lawrence."
Sgt Hara is later reprimanded by Yonoi for exceeding his authority. The whole camp is paraded on Yonoi's order. All prisoners are prompted to form lines outside the barracks, including sick and moribund ones. The climax of the film is reached when Yonoi is ready to kill the POW's commander for not having all the men present for parade. Celliers breaks the rank
and walks decidedly in Yonoi's direction, between him and the man about to be executed and ends up resolutely kissing him in the cheek with a straight face. This is an unbearable offence 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 offence suffered in front of his troops and his own feelings for Celliers. Celliers is then attacked and beaten up by the Japanese soldiers.
Captain Yonoi himself is then redeployed and his successor who declares that "he is not as sentimental as Captain Yonoi" immediately has Celliers buried in the ground up to his neck as a means of punishment and then left to die. Captain Yonoi goes to Celliers when there is no one around and cuts a lock of hair. He then pays his respects and leaves.
Four years later, Lawrence visits Sergeant Hara, who has now been imprisoned by the Allied forces. Hara has learned to speak English whilst in captivity. He also reveals that he is going to be executed the next day for war crimes. Lawrence tells him that Yonoi had given him a lock of Celliers hair and told him to take it to his village in Japan and dedicate it in a shrine. Hara reminisces about Celliers and Yonoi. We find out that Yonoi himself was killed just before the war ended. Hara recalls that Christmas Eve and both are very much amused. The two bid each other farewell for the last time. Just before Lawrence leaves, Hara calls out again, "Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas, Mr Lawrence."
was hired for the role of Jack Celliers after director Nagisa Oshima
saw Bowie in a production of The Elephant Man
on Broadway
, saying Bowie had "an inner spirit that is indestructible." While shooting the movie, Bowie was amazed that Oshima had a two- to three-acre camp built on the remote Polynesian island of Rarotonga
, but most of the camp was never shot on film. He said Oshima "only shot little bits at the corners. I kind of thought it was a waste, but when I saw the movie, it was just so potent - you could feel the camp there, quite definitely." Bowie noted how Oshima would give an incredible amount of direction to his Japanese actors ("down to the minutest detail"), but when directing him or fellow Westerner Tom Conti, he would say "Please do whatever it is you people do." Bowie thought his performance in the movie was "the most credible performance" he'd done in a film up to that point in his career.
Unorthodoxically, Oshima shot the film without rushes
and shipped the film off the island with no safety prints. "It was all going out of the camera and down to the post office and being wrapped up in brown paper and sent off to Japan", Bowie stated. Oshima's editor in Japan cut the movie into a rough print within four days of Oshima returning to Japan.
except "23rd Psalm," which is traditional
. Lyrics are written and sung by David Sylvian
on "Forbidden Colours
". Sakamoto later won the 1983 BAFTA Award for Best Film Music
for the film's soundtrack.
Track list:
The film is notable 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. The soundtrack also contains the vocal version of this title track, better known as "Forbidden Colours
" with lyrics sung and composed by David Sylvian
.
cover version
on the famous Italian record label Discomagic
named "Clock On 5 - Theme From Furyo" which was released in 1984. In 2000, a re-mix of Ryuichi Sakamoto's Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence called "Heart of Asia" was released in Europe by dance group Watergate, and it reached #3 on the UK Singles Chart
. In 2003, Japanese singer Ai
sampled this song in the R&B
-oriented "Merry Christmas Mr. Laurence" (sic), the b-side on her single "My Friend". In 2004, Croatian pianist Maksim Mrvica
included a piano remix of "Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence" on his third album, Variations Part I&II
.
In 2008, a cover version of "Forbidden Colours
" is included on Hollywood Mon Amour, a collection of songs made famous by their inclusion on soundtracks of movies made in the 1980s, rearranged by Marc Collin of Nouvelle Vague
with Nadeah Miranda providing the vocals. The same year, Indonesian singer Anggun
used a sample from this song on "Hymne a la vie" – a track on her album Elevation
. Also in 2008, UK Hardcore
producer Orbit1 remixed this song and called it Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence. It came out on the Hardcore Nation 2009.
In 2009, Japanese-American pop singer Hikaru Utada used a sample from this song on her second English-language album This Is the One, entitling her song "Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence - FYI.". The sample give the song its title where FYI is referenced in the lyrics. The same year, Jade Villalon
sampled the track to her song "Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence -Rocket Girl-" from the album Saint Vox. Also in 2009, British teen singer Faryl Smith
recorded a version of the song for her album Wonderland
, entitled "Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence (Somewhere Far Away)".
Part of the song is also used in the theme song to the video game International Karate
, written by Rob Hubbard
. Japanese post-hardcore
band Fact
recorded a track by the title Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence on their self-titled album
. Tokyo Brass Style, a Japanese Big Band recorded a cover of the title theme for their fifth album, 'Brass Style Xmas'
New York Times critic Janet Maslin wrote a favorable review, saying that David Bowie 'plays a born leader in Nagisa Oshima's Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence, and he plays him like a born film star. Mr. Bowie's screen presence here is mercurial and arresting, and he seems to arrive at this effortlessly, though he manages to do something slyly different in every scene. The demands of his role may sometimes be improbable and elaborate, but Mr. Bowie fills them in a remarkably plain and direct way. Little else in the film is so unaffected or clear.'
On the film's Japanese actors, she writes that "the two main Japanese characters who have brought him to this understanding are Sergeant Hara (Takeshi), a brutal figure who taunts Lawrence while also admiring him, and Captain Yonoi (Ryuichi Sakamoto), the handsome young camp commander, who has a fierce belief in the samurai code. Both of these actors perform at an obvious disadvantage, since their English is awkward and the motives of their characters are imperfectly revealed. However, they are able to convey the complex affinity that exists between captors and prisoners, a point that is made most touchingly in a brief postwar coda."
1983 in film
-Events:*February 11 - The Rolling Stones concert film Let's Spend the Night Together opens in New York*May 25 - Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, the final film in the original Star Wars trilogy, is released. Like the previous films, it goes on to become the top grossing picture of...
directed
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
by Nagisa Oshima
Nagisa Oshima
is a Japanese film director and screenwriter. After graduating from Kyoto University he was hired by Shochiku Ltd. and quickly progressed to directing his own movies, making his debut feature A Town of Love and Hope in 1959....
, produced
Film producer
A film producer oversees and delivers a film project to all relevant parties while preserving the integrity, voice and vision of the film. They will also often take on some financial risk by using their own money, especially during the pre-production period, before a film is fully financed.The...
by Jeremy Thomas
Jeremy Thomas
Jeremy Jack Thomas, CBE is a British film producer, founder of the Recorded Picture Company. He was the producer of Bernardo Bertolucci's The Last Emperor, which won the 1988 Academy Award for Best Picture. In 2006 he received a European Film Award for Outstanding European Achievement in World...
and starring Jack Thompson
Jack Thompson (actor)
Jack Thompson, AM is an Australian actor and one of the major figures of Australian cinema. He was educated at University of Queensland, before embarking on his acting career. In 2002, he was made an honorary member of the Australian Cinematographers Society...
, David Bowie
David Bowie
David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...
, Tom Conti
Tom Conti
Thomas "Tom" Conti is a Scottish actor, theatre director and novelist.-Early life:Born Thomas Conti in Paisley, Renfrewshire, he was brought up Roman Catholic, but he considers himself anti-religious...
, Ryuichi Sakamoto
Ryuichi Sakamoto
After working as a session musician with Haruomi Hosono and Yukihiro Takahashi in 1977, the trio formed the internationally successful electronic music band Yellow Magic Orchestra in 1978. Known for their seminal influence on electronic music, the group helped pioneer electronic genres such as...
, Yuya Uchida
Yuya Uchida
is a Japanese actor and singer, who is regarded as a major figure in Japanese popular music.He began his music career in 1957, and became one of Japan's pivotal rock and roll figures. He became good friends with John Lennon after touring with The Beatles in 1966...
, and Takeshi Kitano
Takeshi Kitano
is a Japanese filmmaker, comedian, singer, actor, film editor, presenter, screenwriter, author, poet, painter, and one-time video game designer who has received critical acclaim, both in his native Japan and abroad, for his highly idiosyncratic cinematic work. The famed Japanese film critic...
.
It was written by Oshima and Paul Mayersberg and based on Laurens van der Post
Laurens van der Post
Sir Laurens Jan van der Post, CBE was a 20th century Afrikaner author of many books, farmer, war hero, political adviser to British heads of government, close friend of Prince Charles, godfather of Prince William, educator, journalist, humanitarian, philosopher, explorer, and...
's experiences during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
as a prisoner of war
Prisoner of war
A prisoner of war or enemy prisoner of war is a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict...
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
Film score
A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film, forming part of the film's soundtrack, which also usually includes dialogue and sound effects...
and the vocal theme "Forbidden Colours
Forbidden Colours
"Forbidden Colours" is a song composed by Ryuichi Sakamoto with lyrics by David Sylvian. The song is the vocal version of the theme from the Nagisa Oshima film Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence and was first released on the soundtrack album...
" featuring David Sylvian
David Sylvian
David Sylvian is an English singer-songwriter and musician who came to prominence in the late 1970s as the lead vocalist and main songwriter in the group Japan...
, which was a hit single in many territories.
The film was entered into the 1983 Cannes Film Festival
1983 Cannes Film Festival
- Jury :*William Styron *Henri Alekan *Yvonne Baby *Sergei Bondarchuk *Youssef Chahine *Souleymane Cissé *Gilbert de Goldschmidt *Mariangela Melato *Karel Reisz...
in competition for the Palme d'Or
Palme d'Or
The Palme d'Or is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival and is presented to the director of the best feature film of the official competition. It was introduced in 1955 by the organising committee. From 1939 to 1954, the highest prize was the Grand Prix du Festival International du...
. Sakamoto's score also won the film a BAFTA Award for Best Film Music
BAFTA Award for Best Film Music
The Anthony Asquith Award for Film Music is an annual award given by British Academy of Film and Television Arts.-1960s:*1968 - The Lion in Winter - John Barry...
.
Plot
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 BritishUnited Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
officer who has lived in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
and speaks Japanese fluently; and Sergeant Hara (Kitano) who is seemingly brutal and yet humane in some ways and with whom Lawrence develops a peculiar friendship.
Like Celliers, Yonoi, too, is tormented by guilt. Having been posted to Manchuria
Manchuria
Manchuria is a historical name given to a large geographic region in northeast Asia. Depending on the definition of its extent, Manchuria usually falls entirely within the People's Republic of China, or is sometimes divided between China and Russia. The region is commonly referred to as Northeast...
previously, he was unable to be in Tokyo with his Army comrades, the "Shining Young Officers" of Japan's February 26 Incident
February 26 Incident
The was an attempted coup d'état in Japan, from February 26 to 29, 1936 carried out by 1,483 troops of the Imperial Japanese Army. Several leading politicians were killed and the center of Tokyo was briefly occupied by the rebelling troops...
, a 1936 military coup d'état. When the coup fails, the young army officers are executed. Yonoi regrets not being able to share their patriotic sacrifice. Jack Celliers had betrayed his younger brother while the two of them were attending boarding school. Although Celliers confesses this only to Lawrence, Captain Yonoi senses in Celliers a kindred spirit. He wants to replace the British camp commandant Group Captain Hicksley with Celliers as spokesman for the prisoners.
The taboo of homosexuality, especially harsh in an otherwise ultranationalist and traditional environment, is suggested throughout the film. A Korean soldier is condemned to commit seppuku
Seppuku
is a form of Japanese ritual suicide by disembowelment. Seppuku was originally reserved only for samurai. Part of the samurai bushido honor code, seppuku was either used voluntarily by samurai to die with honor rather than fall into the hands of their enemies , or as a form of capital punishment...
after being caught in an "improper" relationship with one of the Dutch prisoners. 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. Captain Yonoi is enraged when he sees the prisoners behaving in what he sees as a cowardly way for not wanting to witness the death.
As Celliers is interned in the camp, Yonoi seems to develop a homoerotic fixation with him, often asking Hara about him, silently visiting him in the small hours when Celliers is confined. However, later on, Yonoi becomes enraged by Celliers' behaviour and has him and Lawrence thrown into the punishment cells under the charge of possessing a wireless. Celliers, who is known by the nickname of "Straffer" Jack (A straffer is a "soldier's soldier"), instigates a small number of rebellious actions, one of which is supplying the men with food after their rations have been suspended for three days for their actions during the seppuku, which Yonoi deems as "spiritually lazy."
Yonoi's batman suspects the mental hold that Celliers has on Yonoi so he tries to kill Celliers but fails in the attempt. Celliers manages to escape his cell and rescues Lawrence, only to be thwarted by Yonoi unexpectedly. Yonoi challenges Celliers to single combat saying "If you defeat me, you will be free" but Celliers refuses. Yonoi's batman then commits seppuku in atonement after urging Yonoi to kill Celliers before Celliers can destroy Yonoi.
It is Christmas Eve and Sgt Hara is drinking heavily and orders both Celliers and Lawrence to be brought to him. Hara then advises them that he is playing "Santa Claus" and is ordering their release because a prisoner confesses having the radio. He then calls out in English for the first time "Merry Christmas Lawrence."
Sgt Hara is later reprimanded by Yonoi for exceeding his authority. The whole camp is paraded on Yonoi's order. All prisoners are prompted to form lines outside the barracks, including sick and moribund ones. The climax of the film is reached when Yonoi is ready to kill the POW's commander for not having all the men present for parade. Celliers breaks the rank
Rank (formation)
A Rank is a line of military personnel, drawn up in line abreast .Commonly, troops called to 'On the right, fall in!' do so by forming in line abreast, determining their initial position in relation to a marker. This may be a position on the ground or a single person placed previously to the movement...
and walks decidedly in Yonoi's direction, between him and the man about to be executed and ends up resolutely kissing him in the cheek with a straight face. This is an unbearable offence to Yonoi's bushido
Bushido
, meaning "Way of the Warrior-Knight", is a Japanese word which is used to describe a uniquely Japanese code of conduct and a way of the samurai life, loosely analogous to the concept of chivalry. It originates from the samurai moral code and stresses frugality, loyalty, martial arts mastery, and...
honor code
Honor code
An honour code or honour system is a set of rules or principles governing a community based on a set of rules or ideals that define what constitutes honorable behavior within that community. The use of an honor code depends on the idea that people can be trusted to act honorably...
; he reaches out for his katana
Katana
A Japanese sword, or , is one of the traditional bladed weapons of Japan. There are several types of Japanese swords, according to size, field of application and method of manufacture.-Description:...
against Celliers, only to collapse under the conflicting feelings of vindicating himself from the offence suffered in front of his troops and his own feelings for Celliers. Celliers is then attacked and beaten up by the Japanese soldiers.
Captain Yonoi himself is then redeployed and his successor who declares that "he is not as sentimental as Captain Yonoi" immediately has Celliers buried in the ground up to his neck as a means of punishment and then left to die. Captain Yonoi goes to Celliers when there is no one around and cuts a lock of hair. He then pays his respects and leaves.
Four years later, Lawrence visits Sergeant Hara, who has now been imprisoned by the Allied forces. Hara has learned to speak English whilst in captivity. He also reveals that he is going to be executed the next day for war crimes. Lawrence tells him that Yonoi had given him a lock of Celliers hair and told him to take it to his village in Japan and dedicate it in a shrine. Hara reminisces about Celliers and Yonoi. We find out that Yonoi himself was killed just before the war ended. Hara recalls that Christmas Eve and both are very much amused. The two bid each other farewell for the last time. Just before Lawrence leaves, Hara calls out again, "Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas, Mr Lawrence."
Production
David BowieDavid Bowie
David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...
was hired for the role of Jack Celliers after director Nagisa Oshima
Nagisa Oshima
is a Japanese film director and screenwriter. After graduating from Kyoto University he was hired by Shochiku Ltd. and quickly progressed to directing his own movies, making his debut feature A Town of Love and Hope in 1959....
saw Bowie in a production of The Elephant Man
The Elephant Man (play)
The Elephant Man is a 1977 play by Bernard Pomerance. The production's Broadway debut in 1979 was produced by Richmond Crinkley and Nelle Nugent, and directed by Jack Hofsiss...
on Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
, saying Bowie had "an inner spirit that is indestructible." While shooting the movie, Bowie was amazed that Oshima had a two- to three-acre camp built on the remote Polynesian island of Rarotonga
Rarotonga
Rarotonga is the most populous island of the Cook Islands, with a population of 14,153 , out of the country's total population of 19,569.The Cook Islands' Parliament buildings and international airport are on Rarotonga...
, but most of the camp was never shot on film. He said Oshima "only shot little bits at the corners. I kind of thought it was a waste, but when I saw the movie, it was just so potent - you could feel the camp there, quite definitely." Bowie noted how Oshima would give an incredible amount of direction to his Japanese actors ("down to the minutest detail"), but when directing him or fellow Westerner Tom Conti, he would say "Please do whatever it is you people do." Bowie thought his performance in the movie was "the most credible performance" he'd done in a film up to that point in his career.
Unorthodoxically, Oshima shot the film without rushes
Dailies
Dailies, in filmmaking, are the raw, unedited footage shot during the making of a motion picture. They are so called because usually at the end of each day, that day's footage is developed, synched to sound, and printed on film in a batch for viewing the next day by the director and some members...
and shipped the film off the island with no safety prints. "It was all going out of the camera and down to the post office and being wrapped up in brown paper and sent off to Japan", Bowie stated. Oshima's editor in Japan cut the movie into a rough print within four days of Oshima returning to Japan.
Cast
- David BowieDavid BowieDavid Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...
- Maj. Jack 'Strafer' Celliers - Tom ContiTom ContiThomas "Tom" Conti is a Scottish actor, theatre director and novelist.-Early life:Born Thomas Conti in Paisley, Renfrewshire, he was brought up Roman Catholic, but he considers himself anti-religious...
- Col. John Lawrence - Ryuichi SakamotoRyuichi SakamotoAfter working as a session musician with Haruomi Hosono and Yukihiro Takahashi in 1977, the trio formed the internationally successful electronic music band Yellow Magic Orchestra in 1978. Known for their seminal influence on electronic music, the group helped pioneer electronic genres such as...
- Capt. Yonoi - Takeshi KitanoTakeshi Kitanois a Japanese filmmaker, comedian, singer, actor, film editor, presenter, screenwriter, author, poet, painter, and one-time video game designer who has received critical acclaim, both in his native Japan and abroad, for his highly idiosyncratic cinematic work. The famed Japanese film critic...
- Sgt. Gengo Hara (as Takeshi) - Jack ThompsonJack Thompson (actor)Jack Thompson, AM is an Australian actor and one of the major figures of Australian cinema. He was educated at University of Queensland, before embarking on his acting career. In 2002, he was made an honorary member of the Australian Cinematographers Society...
- Group Capt. Hicksley - Johnny Okura - Kanemoto (as Johnny Ohkura)
- Alistair BrowningAlistair BrowningAlistair Browning is a New Zealand actor who played the role of Damrod, a soldier of Faramir’s Rangers, in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King....
- De Jong - James Malcolm - Celliers' Brother
- Chris Broun - Celliers aged 12
- Yuya UchidaYuya Uchidais a Japanese actor and singer, who is regarded as a major figure in Japanese popular music.He began his music career in 1957, and became one of Japan's pivotal rock and roll figures. He became good friends with John Lennon after touring with The Beatles in 1966...
- Commandant of Military Prison - Ryunosuke Kaneda - President of the Court
- Takashi Naitô - Lt. Iwata
- Tamio Ishikura - Prosecutor
- Rokko Toura - Interpreter
- Kan MikamiKan Mikamiis a Japanese folk singer-songwriter. His music, heavily influenced by American blues, was popular in Japan in the 1970s. He re-wrote the lyric of the song "Yume wa Yoru Hiraku" for his cover version in 1972...
- Lt. Ito
Soundtrack
All compositions are by Ryuichi SakamotoRyuichi Sakamoto
After working as a session musician with Haruomi Hosono and Yukihiro Takahashi in 1977, the trio formed the internationally successful electronic music band Yellow Magic Orchestra in 1978. Known for their seminal influence on electronic music, the group helped pioneer electronic genres such as...
except "23rd Psalm," which is traditional
Traditional music
Traditional music is the term increasingly used for folk music that is not contemporary folk music. More on this is at the terminology section of the World music article...
. Lyrics are written and sung by David Sylvian
David Sylvian
David Sylvian is an English singer-songwriter and musician who came to prominence in the late 1970s as the lead vocalist and main songwriter in the group Japan...
on "Forbidden Colours
Forbidden Colours
"Forbidden Colours" is a song composed by Ryuichi Sakamoto with lyrics by David Sylvian. The song is the vocal version of the theme from the Nagisa Oshima film Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence and was first released on the soundtrack album...
". Sakamoto later won the 1983 BAFTA Award for Best Film Music
BAFTA Award for Best Film Music
The Anthony Asquith Award for Film Music is an annual award given by British Academy of Film and Television Arts.-1960s:*1968 - The Lion in Winter - John Barry...
for the film's soundtrack.
Track list:
- "Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence"
- "Batavia"
- "Germination"
- "A Hearty Breakfast"
- "Before the War"
- "The Seed and the Sower"
- "A Brief Encounter"
- "Ride, Ride, Ride (Celliers' Brother's Song)"
- "The Fight"
- "Father Christmas"
- "Dismissed"
- "Assembly"
- "Beyond Reason"
- "Sowing the Seed"
- "23rd Psalm"
- "Last Regrets"
- "Ride, Ride, Ride (Reprise)"
- "The Seed"
- "Forbidden ColoursForbidden Colours"Forbidden Colours" is a song composed by Ryuichi Sakamoto with lyrics by David Sylvian. The song is the vocal version of the theme from the Nagisa Oshima film Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence and was first released on the soundtrack album...
"
The film is notable for its soundtrack, by Ryuichi Sakamoto
Ryuichi Sakamoto
After working as a session musician with Haruomi Hosono and Yukihiro Takahashi in 1977, the trio formed the internationally successful electronic music band Yellow Magic Orchestra in 1978. Known for their seminal influence on electronic music, the group helped pioneer electronic genres such as...
. 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. The soundtrack also contains the vocal version of this title track, better known as "Forbidden Colours
Forbidden Colours
"Forbidden Colours" is a song composed by Ryuichi Sakamoto with lyrics by David Sylvian. The song is the vocal version of the theme from the Nagisa Oshima film Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence and was first released on the soundtrack album...
" with lyrics sung and composed by David Sylvian
David Sylvian
David Sylvian is an English singer-songwriter and musician who came to prominence in the late 1970s as the lead vocalist and main songwriter in the group Japan...
.
Popular culture
There is a 12" vinyl Italo discoItalo disco
Italo disco encompasses much of the dance music output in Europe during the 1980s. It is one of the world's first forms of mostly electronic dance music and evolved during the late 1970s and early 1980s in Italy, Germany, the Netherlands and other parts of Europe...
cover version
Cover version
In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
on the famous Italian record label Discomagic
Discomagic Records
Discomagic Records was the largest italo disco / house / dance record label in Italy at the time. It spawned a large number of sub-labels during the early 1980s to the early 1990s. and it set the standards for an entire genre of music. It was run by Severo Lombardoni from 1982 to 1997.It ceased its...
named "Clock On 5 - Theme From Furyo" which was released in 1984. In 2000, a re-mix of Ryuichi Sakamoto's Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence called "Heart of Asia" was released in Europe by dance group Watergate, and it reached #3 on the UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
. In 2003, Japanese singer Ai
AI (singer)
Ai , born November 2, 1981 as , is a Japanese R&B singer and rapper. She is currently under EMI Music Japan.-Early life:...
sampled this song in the R&B
Contemporary R&B
Contemporary R&B is a music genre that combines elements of hip hop, soul, R&B and funk.Although the abbreviation “R&B” originates from traditional rhythm and blues music, today the term R&B is most often used to describe a style of African American music originating after the demise of disco in...
-oriented "Merry Christmas Mr. Laurence" (sic), the b-side on her single "My Friend". In 2004, Croatian pianist Maksim Mrvica
Maksim Mrvica
Maksim Mrvica is a Croatian pianist. He plays classical crossover music.- History :Mrvica was born in Šibenik, Croatia. He took up piano lessons from the age of nine from Marija Sekso and gave his first public performance in the same year. Just three years later he gave his first concert...
included a piano remix of "Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence" on his third album, Variations Part I&II
Variations Part I&II
Variations Part I&II is Croatian pianist Maksim Mrvica's third album, including his first album, "Gestures".-Track listing:#Tonci Huljic: "Kolibre"#Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No.1#Sakamoto: "Merry Christmas Mr...
.
In 2008, a cover version of "Forbidden Colours
Forbidden Colours
"Forbidden Colours" is a song composed by Ryuichi Sakamoto with lyrics by David Sylvian. The song is the vocal version of the theme from the Nagisa Oshima film Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence and was first released on the soundtrack album...
" is included on Hollywood Mon Amour, a collection of songs made famous by their inclusion on soundtracks of movies made in the 1980s, rearranged by Marc Collin of Nouvelle Vague
Nouvelle Vague (band)
Nouvelle Vague is a French musical collective led by musicians Marc Collin and Olivier Libaux. Their name is a play on words, meaning "new wave" in French, and "bossa nova" in Portuguese...
with Nadeah Miranda providing the vocals. The same year, Indonesian singer Anggun
Anggun
Anggun Cipta Sasmi is an Indonesian singer-songwriter. She has released 12 studio albums and one soundtrack album , and her songs have also been included on various compilation albums. Her musical career began in childhood, and she achieved commercial success in Indonesia when she was 12 years old...
used a sample from this song on "Hymne a la vie" – a track on her album Elevation
Elevation (Anggun album)
Elevation is the fourth international studio album by Anggun. The album was recorded in English and French.-French Version:* France Standard Edition#"J'ignorais tout" – 4:22#"Si tu l'avoues" – 3:59#"Hymne à la vie" – 4:24...
. Also in 2008, UK Hardcore
UK hardcore
UK Hardcore is a broad term to describe the evolved sound of Happy Hardcore Rave music which emerged around the end of the 1990s and grew in strength during the 21st century...
producer Orbit1 remixed this song and called it Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence. It came out on the Hardcore Nation 2009.
In 2009, Japanese-American pop singer Hikaru Utada used a sample from this song on her second English-language album This Is the One, entitling her song "Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence - FYI.". The sample give the song its title where FYI is referenced in the lyrics. The same year, Jade Villalon
Jade Villalon
Jade Valerie Villalon , also known by her project and stage name Jade Valerie, is an American and European pop singer, songwriter, and actress...
sampled the track to her song "Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence -Rocket Girl-" from the album Saint Vox. Also in 2009, British teen singer Faryl Smith
Faryl Smith
Faryl Smith is a British teen mezzo-soprano who rose to fame after auditioning for the second series of the ITV television talent show Britain's Got Talent in 2008. She received praise throughout the competition, and although she was the favourite to win after the second round, she finished...
recorded a version of the song for her album Wonderland
Wonderland (Faryl Smith album)
Wonderland is the second studio album by teenage mezzo-soprano Faryl Smith, released by Decca Records on 30 November 2009. Smith became famous after her participation in Britain's Got Talent in 2008, and subsequently, aged 13, signed with Universal Classics and Jazz, releasing her debut album, Faryl...
, entitled "Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence (Somewhere Far Away)".
Part of the song is also used in the theme song to the video game International Karate
International Karate
International Karate is a karate fighting game created and published by System 3 for various home computers. Of these versions the 1986 releases for Commodore 64 and Atari 8-bit computers, created by Archer MacLean with music by Rob Hubbard, stand out for their good playability and overall high...
, written by Rob Hubbard
Rob Hubbard
Rob Hubbard is a music composer best known for his composition of computer game theme music, especially for microcomputers of the 1980s such as the Commodore 64...
. Japanese post-hardcore
Post-hardcore
Post-hardcore is a genre of music that developed from hardcore punk, itself an offshoot of the broader punk rock movement. Like post-punk, post-hardcore is a term for a broad constellation of groups...
band Fact
Fact (band)
Fact is a Japanese post-hardcore band which formed in 1999 in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. Their music makes use of common hardcore punk and punk rock elements that include fast guitar riffs and a highly melodic style. Clean and screamed singing styles are both used, and gang vocals are present in...
recorded a track by the title Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence on their self-titled album
Fact (album)
Fact is the second full-length album by Japanese post-hardcore band FACT, and their first on a major label. It is also their first world wide release. The only single from the album was, "A Fact of Life", for which a music video was made...
. Tokyo Brass Style, a Japanese Big Band recorded a cover of the title theme for their fifth album, 'Brass Style Xmas'
Reception
The film has a 79% Critic Rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and a 82% Audience Rating.New York Times critic Janet Maslin wrote a favorable review, saying that David Bowie 'plays a born leader in Nagisa Oshima's Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence, and he plays him like a born film star. Mr. Bowie's screen presence here is mercurial and arresting, and he seems to arrive at this effortlessly, though he manages to do something slyly different in every scene. The demands of his role may sometimes be improbable and elaborate, but Mr. Bowie fills them in a remarkably plain and direct way. Little else in the film is so unaffected or clear.'
On the film's Japanese actors, she writes that "the two main Japanese characters who have brought him to this understanding are Sergeant Hara (Takeshi), a brutal figure who taunts Lawrence while also admiring him, and Captain Yonoi (Ryuichi Sakamoto), the handsome young camp commander, who has a fierce belief in the samurai code. Both of these actors perform at an obvious disadvantage, since their English is awkward and the motives of their characters are imperfectly revealed. However, they are able to convey the complex affinity that exists between captors and prisoners, a point that is made most touchingly in a brief postwar coda."