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Arrow Films
David Bowie stars in Nagisa Oshima's 1983 Palme d'Or-nominated portrait of resilience, pride, friendship and obsession among four very different men confined in the stifling jungle heat of a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp in Java during World War II.
In 1942, British officer Major Jack Celliers (Bowie) is captured by Japanese soldiers, and after a brutal trial sent, physically debilitated but indomitable in mind, to a POW camp overseen by the zealous Captain Yonoi (Ryuichi Sakamoto). Celliers' stubbornness sees him locked in a battle of wills with the camp's new commandant, a man obsessed with discipline and the glory of Imperial Japan who becomes unnaturally preoccupied with the young Major, while Lieutenant Colonel Lawrence (Tom Conti), the only inmate with a degree of sympathy for Japanese culture and an understanding of the language, attempts to bridge the divide through his friendship with Yonoi's second-in-command, Sergeant Hara (Takeshi Kitano), a man possessing a surprising degree of compassion beneath his cruel façade.
Produced by Jeremy Thomas (The Last Emperor, The Sheltering Sky), it was the first English-language film by Oshima (Death by Hanging, In the Realm of the Senses, Gohatto), a leading light of Japanese New Wave cinema, and provided breakthrough big-screen roles for comedian Takeshi Kitano and musician Ryuichi Sakamoto, who also composed the film's hauntingly memorable BAFTA-winning score. This powerful wartime drama was adapted from Laurens van der Post's autobiographical novel 'The Seed and the Sower' (1963) by screenwriter Paul Mayersberg (The Man Who Fell to Earth).
Special Features
- High Definition Blu-ray™ (1080p) presentation
- Original uncompressed stereo audio
- The Man Who Left His Soul on Film (1983), Paul Joyce's 82-minute documentary profile of Nagisa Oshima
- The Oshima Gang (1983), a 30-minute documentary following the film's cast and makers at the 1983 Cannes Film Festival
- Video interviews with producer Jeremy Thomas and actor-composer Ryuichi Sakamoto
- Exclusive newly filmed interview with critic Tony Rayns
- Original theatrical trailer
- Image gallery
- Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Sam Hadley
- Arrow Academy
- 123 mins approx
- 15
- English
- Arrow Academy
- Nagisa Oshima
- David Bowie
- Takeshi Kitano
- Ryuichi Sakamoto
- Tom Conti
English, English SDH
- 1983
- B
Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence Blu-ray
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Arrow Films
David Bowie stars in Nagisa Oshima's 1983 Palme d'Or-nominated portrait of resilience, pride, friendship and obsession among four very different men confined in the stifling jungle heat of a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp in Java during World War II.
In 1942, British officer Major Jack Celliers (Bowie) is captured by Japanese soldiers, and after a brutal trial sent, physically debilitated but indomitable in mind, to a POW camp overseen by the zealous Captain Yonoi (Ryuichi Sakamoto). Celliers' stubbornness sees him locked in a battle of wills with the camp's new commandant, a man obsessed with discipline and the glory of Imperial Japan who becomes unnaturally preoccupied with the young Major, while Lieutenant Colonel Lawrence (Tom Conti), the only inmate with a degree of sympathy for Japanese culture and an understanding of the language, attempts to bridge the divide through his friendship with Yonoi's second-in-command, Sergeant Hara (Takeshi Kitano), a man possessing a surprising degree of compassion beneath his cruel façade.
Produced by Jeremy Thomas (The Last Emperor, The Sheltering Sky), it was the first English-language film by Oshima (Death by Hanging, In the Realm of the Senses, Gohatto), a leading light of Japanese New Wave cinema, and provided breakthrough big-screen roles for comedian Takeshi Kitano and musician Ryuichi Sakamoto, who also composed the film's hauntingly memorable BAFTA-winning score. This powerful wartime drama was adapted from Laurens van der Post's autobiographical novel 'The Seed and the Sower' (1963) by screenwriter Paul Mayersberg (The Man Who Fell to Earth).
Special Features
- High Definition Blu-ray™ (1080p) presentation
- Original uncompressed stereo audio
- The Man Who Left His Soul on Film (1983), Paul Joyce's 82-minute documentary profile of Nagisa Oshima
- The Oshima Gang (1983), a 30-minute documentary following the film's cast and makers at the 1983 Cannes Film Festival
- Video interviews with producer Jeremy Thomas and actor-composer Ryuichi Sakamoto
- Exclusive newly filmed interview with critic Tony Rayns
- Original theatrical trailer
- Image gallery
- Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Sam Hadley
- Arrow Academy
- 123 mins approx
- 15
- English
- Arrow Academy
- Nagisa Oshima
- David Bowie
- Takeshi Kitano
- Ryuichi Sakamoto
- Tom Conti
English, English SDH
- 1983
- B
Customer Reviews
Top Customer Reviews
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Quality release
The movie remains a timeless classic, featuring memorable performances (especially from Bowie, Conti and Beat Takeshi) and a haunting electronic score by the late Ryuichi Sakamoto. There's a great doc in the bonus section, which rounds up a very decent edition overall.
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Underrated Anti-War Film
There are very few films which can be truly anti-war but this is one. There are no winners on either side, just pawns in a game. Set in a Japanese POW camp, this film follows the British prisoners and how they ride out the war. It features brilliant performances from everyone but none as magnetic as David Bowie, who steals every scene. The score is also beautiful and the theme plays in my head constantly. If you haven’t watched it, please do. There’s a lot you can learn from a film like this.
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Merry Christmas, 40 Years Later
I first discovered Merry Christmas, Mr Lawrence earlier this year while working my way through David Bowie’s main filmography, and this film blew me away. I originally watched it in DVD but just knew I had to get it on Blu-ray (my preferred format), and this Arrow Video release did just the job! My first Arrow Blu-ray and certainly not my last, the extras and film are all amazing.
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