View source for Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence

{{Short description|1983 film by Nagisa Ōshima}}
{{Use British English|date=April 2016}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2016}}
{{Infobox film
| name           = Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence
| image          = Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence poster Japanese.jpg
| caption        = Japanese theatrical release poster
| director       = [[Nagisa Ōshima]]
| producer       = [[Jeremy Thomas]]
| screenplay     = {{Plainlist|
* Nagisa Ōshima
* [[Paul Mayersberg]] 
}}
| based_on       = {{based on|''[[The Seed and the Sower]]''<br>1963 novel|Sir [[Laurens van der Post]]}} 
| starring       = {{Plainlist|
* [[David Bowie]]
* [[Tom Conti]]
* [[Ryuichi Sakamoto]]
* [[Takeshi Kitano]]
* [[Jack Thompson (actor)|Jack Thompson]]
}}
| music          = Ryuichi Sakamoto
| cinematography = Toichiro Narushima
| editing        = [[Tomoyo Ōshima]]
| studio         = {{Plainlist|
* National Film Trustee Company
* Antares-Nova N.V.
* [[Recorded Picture Company]]
* Oshima Productions
* [[TV Asahi|Asahi National Broadcasting]]
* Broadbank Investments
}}
| distributor    = {{plainlist|
* [[Shochiku|Shochiku Fuji]]
* [[Nippon Herald Films]] (Japan)
* [[Stephen Woolley|Palace Pictures]] (United Kingdom)
* Everand Films (New Zealand)
}}
| released       = {{Film date|1983|5|10|[[1983 Cannes Film Festival|Cannes]]|1983|5|28|Japan|1983|8|25|United Kingdom|df=y}}
| runtime        = 123 minutes
| country        = {{plainlist|
* Japan<ref>{{cite web|url=http://lumiere.obs.coe.int/web/film_info/?id=29694|title=LUMIERE : Film: Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence|access-date=15 March 2021}}</ref>
* United Kingdom
* New Zealand<ref name="Combs">{{cite magazine|last=Combs|first=Richard|date=May 1983|title=Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence|magazine=[[Monthly Film Bulletin]]|publisher=[[British Film Institute]]}}</ref>
}}
| language       = {{Plainlist|
* English
* Japanese
}}
| gross          = {{JPY|990 million}} (Japan{{nbsp}}rentals) <br /> $2.3 million (USA) <br> 2.8 million tickets (overseas)
}}

{{Nihongo|'''''Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence'''''|戦場のメリークリスマス|Senjō no Merī Kurisumasu|{{literal translation|Battlefield's Merry Christmas}}|lead=yes}}, also known as {{nihongo3|||'''''Furyo'''''|extra=Japanese for "prisoner of war"}},<ref name="WordReference forums">{{cite web|url=https://forum.wordreference.com/threads/furyo.1381178/|title=Furyo|date=May 2009 |publisher=WordReference Forums|access-date=15 March 2021}}</ref> is a 1983 [[war film]] co-written and directed by [[Nagisa Ōshima]], co-written by [[Paul Mayersberg]], and produced by [[Jeremy Thomas]]. The film is based on the experiences of Sir [[Laurens van der Post]] (portrayed by [[Tom Conti]] as Lt. Col. John Lawrence) as a prisoner of war in [[Java]] (Japanese-occupied [[Dutch East Indies]]) during [[World War II]], as depicted in his books ''[[The Seed and the Sower]]'' (1963) and ''The Night of the New Moon'' (1970). It stars [[David Bowie]], [[Ryuichi Sakamoto]], [[Takeshi Kitano]] and [[Jack Thompson (actor)|Jack Thompson]]; Sakamoto also composed and played the musical score  including the vocal version of the main theme "[[Forbidden Colours]]", with lyrics written and sung by [[David Sylvian]].<ref name="Forbidden Colours">{{cite web |url=https://sylvianvista.com/2023/05/19/forbidden-colours/|title=Forbidden Colours|access-date=21 May 2023|work=sylvianvista.com|date=19 May 2023 }}</ref>

The film was entered into the [[1983 Cannes Film Festival]] in competition for the [[Palme d'Or]].<ref name="festival-cannes.com">{{cite web |url=https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/films/merry-christmas-mr-lawrence|title=Festival de Cannes: Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence|access-date=15 March 2021|work=festival-cannes.com}}</ref> Sakamoto's score won the film a [[BAFTA Award for Best Film Music]].

==Plot==
In 1942, Captain Yonoi is the commander of the [[Prisoner of war|POW]] camp in Lebak Sembada in [[Japanese occupation of the Dutch East Indies|Japanese-occupied]] [[Java]]. A strict adherent to the [[bushido]] code, his only sources of connection to the prisoners lie in the empathetic Lt. Col. John Lawrence, the only inmate fluent in Japanese, and the abrasive spokesman Gp. Capt. Hicksley, who repeatedly resists Yonoi's attempts to find weapons experts among the prisoners for the Japanese army's interests. Lawrence has befriended Sgt. Gengo Hara, but remains at odds with the rest of the staff. Summoned to the military trial of the recently captured Major Jack Celliers, Yonoi is fascinated by his resilience and has him interned at the camp. After the trial, Yonoi confides in Lawrence that he is haunted with shame due to his absence during the [[February 26 Incident]], believing he should have died alongside the rebels and implying that his focus on honour stems from this. Sensing a kindred spirit in Celliers, Yonoi's fascination grows into a romantic obsession: he treats him specially, watches him sleep, and repeatedly asks Hara about him in private.

When the inmates are made to fast as punishment for insubordination during the forced [[seppuku]] of a guard (Okura), Celliers sneaks in food. The guards catch him and find a smuggled radio during the subsequent investigation, forcing him and Lawrence to take the blame. Yonoi's [[Batman (military)|batman]], realizing the hold Celliers has on him, attempts to kill Celliers in his sleep that night, but fails after he wakes up and escapes, freeing Lawrence too. Yonoi catches Celliers and challenges him to a duel in exchange for his freedom, but Celliers refuses; the batman returns and kills himself for his failure, urging Yonoi to kill Celliers before his feelings overpower him.

At the funeral, Lawrence learns that he and Celliers will be executed for the radio, despite the lack of evidence, to preserve order in the camp; enraged, he trashes the funeral altar and is forced back into his cell. That night, Celliers reveals to Lawrence that as a teenager, he betrayed his younger brother, long bullied for his hunchback, by refusing to spare him a humiliating and traumatizing initiation ritual at their boarding school. Confronting his past, he describes the lifelong shame he felt towards his actions, paralleling Yonoi's predicament. During their conversation, the pair are released by a drunken Hara, as a different prisoner confessed to delivering the radio. As they leave, Hara calls out in English, "Merry Christmas, Lawrence!" Although Yonoi is angry at Hara for exceeding his authority, he only mildly reprimands him.

Hicksley, realizing that Yonoi wants to replace him with Celliers as spokesman, confronts him. The two argue over their withholding of information from one another before an enraged Yonoi orders the whole camp to form up outside the barracks, including the sick bay's ailing patients, resulting in one's death. Hicksley, who refused to bring out the patients, is to be punished for his insubordination with an on-the-spot execution. Before he can be killed, Celliers breaks rank and kisses Yonoi on each cheek, choosing to save Hicksley's life at the cost of his own. Caught between a desire for vindication and his feelings for Celliers, a distraught Yonoi collapses and is ultimately relieved from duty; the guards beat Celliers and drag him out of the area. His more rigid replacement has Celliers buried in the sand up to his neck and left to die. Before leaving, Yonoi sneaks into his pen and cuts a lock from his hair, moments before his death.

Four years later, Lawrence visits Hara, who is now a prisoner of the [[Allies of World War II|Allies]]. Hara has learned to speak English and reveals he is to be executed the following day for war crimes. Expressing confusion over the harshness of his sentence given how commonplace his actions were among both sides of the war, he and Lawrence both conclude that while the Allies officially won, morally "we are all wrong." The two reminisce on Celliers and Yonoi, the latter of whom was reported to have been killed after the war, before bidding each other goodbye. As he is leaving, Hara calls out, "Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence!".

==Cast==
* [[David Bowie]] as Maj. Jack "Strafer" Celliers
** Chris Broun as Jack Celliers (aged 12)
* [[Tom Conti]] as Lt. Col. John Lawrence
* [[Ryuichi Sakamoto]] as Capt. Yonoi
* [[Takeshi Kitano]] as Sgt. Gengo Hara
* [[Jack Thompson (actor)|Jack Thompson]] as Gp. Capt. Hicksley
* Johnny Okura as Kanemoto
* [[Alistair Browning]] as De Jong
* James Malcolm as Celliers' brother
* [[Yuya Uchida (singer)|Yuya Uchida]] as Commandant of military prison
* Ryunosuke Kaneda as Colonel Fujimura, President of the Court
* Takashi Naitō as Lt. Iwata
* Yuji Honma as PFC. Yajima
* Tamio Ishikura as Prosecutor
* [[Rokko Toura]] as Interpreter
* [[Kan Mikami]] as Lt. Ito
* [[Hideo Murota]] as New commandant of the camp

==Production==
[[File:David Bowie, as Ziggy Stardust, performing at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium.jpg|right|thumb|upright=0.7|[[David Bowie]] was cast as Jack Celliers on the strength of his performance in ''[[The Elephant Man (play)|The Elephant Man]]''.]]
[[David Bowie]] was cast as Jack Celliers after director [[Nagisa Ōshima]] saw him in a production of ''[[The Elephant Man (play)|The Elephant Man]]'' on [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]]. He felt that Bowie had "an inner spirit that is indestructible". While shooting the film, Bowie was amazed that Ōshima 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 Ōshima "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&nbsp;– you could ''feel'' the camp there, quite definitely."<ref name=RS83>{{cite magazine|last=Loder|first=Kurt|author-link=Kurt Loder|title=Straight Time|magazine=[[Rolling Stone (magazine)|Rolling Stone]]|issue=395|date=12 May 1983|pages=22–28, 81}}</ref> Bowie noted how Ōshima 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."<ref>{{citation|last=Campbell|first=Virginia|title=Bowie at the Bijou|magazine=Movieline|volume=3|issue=7|date=April 1992|pages=30–36, 80, 83, 86–87}}</ref> Bowie thought his performance in the film was "the most credible performance" he had done in a film up to that point in his career.<ref name=RS83/>

The boarding school sequence was shot on location at [[King's College, Auckland|King's College]], a private high school in [[Auckland]], [[New Zealand]]. In a shot of two students playing billiards, another boy in the room can be seen wearing a King's blazer. Other scenes were filmed in various locations around Auckland including [[The Strand Station|Auckland Railway Station]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nzonscreen.com/title/radio-with-pictures-1982|title=Radio with Pictures - David Bowie Television (Excerpts) – 1982|publisher=NZ on Screen|access-date=15 March 2021}}</ref>

Ōshima chose [[Ryuichi Sakamoto]] after seeing his photographs in a photo book ''Fifty Representative Figures of Today'', and without even meeting him. The film was Sakamoto's debut soundtrack just as it was his inaugural acting role. It was also [[Takeshi Kitano|Takeshi ‘Beat’ Kitano]]'s debut movie acting role, having only been known up to that point as a comedian on TV variety shows in Japan.<ref name="Forbidden Colours"/>

Contrary to usual cinematic practice, Ōshima shot the film without [[dailies|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", said Bowie. Ōshima's editor in Japan cut the movie into a rough print within four days of Ōshima returning to Japan.<ref name=RS83/>

On set, [[David Bowie]] made a bond with his on-screen brother, James Malcolm, whom he later called his “New Zealand brother”. For one pivotal scene, Malcolm had to sing for Bowie. The next year, Bowie invited Malcolm to join him on stage at Western Springs in Auckland for the [[Serious Moonlight Tour|Serious Moonlight tour]], where they released a dove together as a sign of peace.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Gates |first=Charlie |date=2016-01-13 |title=David Bowie's 'New Zealand brother' |url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/music/75851737/david-bowies-new-zealand-brother |access-date=2022-04-10 |website=Stuff |language=en}}</ref>

==Soundtrack==
{{excerpt|Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence (soundtrack)}}

==Reception==
[[Review aggregator]] website [[Rotten Tomatoes]] gives ''Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence'' an 86% approval rating and an average rating of 6.60 out of 10 based on 28 reviews. The site's consensus states: "Worthy themes and strong performances across the board make ''Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence'' an impactful story about bridging cultural divides."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/merry_christmas_mr_lawrence|title=Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence|website=[[Rotten Tomatoes]]|publisher=[[Flixster]]|access-date=1 October 2023}}</ref> [[Metacritic]] assigned the film a weighted average score of 53 out of 100, based on 13 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.metacritic.com/movie/merry-christmas-mr-lawrence | title=Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence | website=[[Metacritic]] }}</ref>

''[[The New York Times]]'' critic [[Janet Maslin]] wrote:<ref>{{cite news |last=Maslin |first=Janet |author-link=Janet Maslin |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1983/08/26/movies/david-bowie-in-merry-christmas.html |title=Movie Review - Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence - DAVID BOWIE IN 'MERRY CHRISTMAS' |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=26 August 1983 |page=10 }}</ref>
{{blockquote|David Bowie plays a born leader in Nagisa Ōshima'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, Maslin wrote that
{{blockquote|the two main Japanese characters who have brought [Lawrence] to this understanding are Sergeant Hara, a brutal figure who taunts Lawrence while also admiring him, and Captain Yonoi, 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 can convey the complex affinity between captors and prisoners, a point that is made most touchingly in a brief postwar coda.}}

Directors [[Akira Kurosawa]] and [[Christopher Nolan]] named ''Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence'' as among their favorite films.<ref>{{cite web |author1=Lee Thomas-Mason |title=From Stanley Kubrick to Martin Scorsese: Akira Kurosawa once named his top 100 favourite films of all time |url=https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/akira-kurosawa-100-favourite-films-list/ |website=Far Out |date=12 January 2021 |publisher=Far Out Magazine |access-date=10 June 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | title = Akira Kurosawa's Top 100 Movies! | url = http://wildgrounds.com/index.php/2009/01/17/akira-kurosawas-top-100-movies/ | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100327124349/http://wildgrounds.com/index.php/2009/01/17/akira-kurosawas-top-100-movies/ | archive-date = 27 March 2010 | df = dmy-all }}</ref>

==Box office==
In Japan, the film earned {{JPY|990 million}} in [[distributor rentals]].<ref>{{Cite journal |title=邦画フリーブッキング配収ベスト作品 |journal=[[Kinema Junpo]] |issue=1984年（昭和59年）2月下旬号|year=1984|page=115|publisher=Kinema Junposha|language=ja}}</ref> In the United States, it grossed {{US$|2,306,560|year=1983|round=-5|long=no}}.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.boxofficemojo.com/release/rl1601865217/weekend/|title=Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence (1983)|publisher=[[Box Office Mojo]]|access-date=15 March 2021}}</ref>

It sold 2,385,100 tickets in the United States, France and Sweden<ref>{{cite web |title=Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence |url=https://www.kinopoisk.ru/film/39298/ |website=[[Kinopoisk]] |language=ru |access-date=30 March 2022}}</ref> (including 1,579,223 in France<ref>{{cite web |access-date=2023-04-12 |title=Merry Christmas Mister Lawrence (1983) |url=http://www.jpbox-office.com/fichfilm.php?id=6838 |website=jpbox-office.com}}<!-- auto-translated from French by Module:CS1 translator -->.</ref>). It also sold 423,778 tickets in Germany,<ref>{{cite web |title=Top 100 Deutschland 1983 |trans-title=Top 100 Germany 1983 |url=https://www.insidekino.com/DJahr/D1983.htm |website=Inside Kino |language=de |access-date=30 March 2022}}</ref> and 54 tickets in Switzerland and Spain since 2007,<ref>{{cite web |title=Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence |url=https://lumiere.obs.coe.int/movie/29694 |website=[[Lumiere (database)|Lumiere]] |access-date=30 March 2022}}</ref> for a combined {{formatnum:{{#expr:2385100+423778+54}}|}} tickets sold in overseas territories outside of Japan and the United Kingdom.

==See also==
* [[List of anti-war films]]
* [[List of Christmas films]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{IMDb title}}
* {{jmdb title|1983|dg001940}}
* {{AllMovie title|32280}}
* {{TCMDb title|id=83343}}
* [https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/1605-lawrence-of-shinjuku-merry-christmas-mr-lawrence ''Lawrence of Shinjuku: Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence''] an essay by Chuck Stephens at the [[Criterion Collection]]

{{Nagisa Ōshima}}
{{Mainichi Film Award for Best Film}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:1983 drama films]]
[[Category:1983 LGBTQ-related films]]
[[Category:Gay-related films]]
[[Category:1980s war drama films]]
[[Category:1980s Christmas films]]
[[Category:Japanese Christmas films]]
[[Category:Japanese war drama films]]
[[Category:British Christmas films]]
[[Category:British war drama films]]
[[Category:1980s English-language films]]
[[Category:English-language Japanese films]]
[[Category:1980s Japanese-language films]]
[[Category:World War II prisoner of war films]]
[[Category:Pacific War films]]
[[Category:HanWay Films films]]
[[Category:Recorded Picture Company films]]
[[Category:Films directed by Nagisa Ōshima]]
[[Category:Japanese LGBTQ-related films]]
[[Category:British LGBTQ-related films]]
[[Category:Films scored by Ryuichi Sakamoto]]
[[Category:Films set in Indonesia]]
[[Category:Films shot in the Cook Islands]]
[[Category:Films shot in New Zealand]]
[[Category:Films produced by Jeremy Thomas]]
[[Category:Albums produced by Ryuichi Sakamoto]]
[[Category:Films with screenplays by Paul Mayersberg]]
[[Category:Japan in non-Japanese culture]]
[[Category:British World War II films]]
[[Category:Japanese World War II films]]
[[Category:1980s British films]]
[[Category:1980s Japanese films]]
[[Category:Films about the British Army]]
[[Category:English-language war drama films]]
[[Category:English-language Christmas films]]