Merry Christmas, Mr.Lawrence

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Merry Christmas, Mr.Lawrence ★★★ 1983 (R)

An often overlooked drama about a WWII Japanese POW camp. Taut psychological drama about clashing cultures and physical and emotional survival focusing on the tensions between Bowie as a British POW and camp commander Sakamato, who also composed the outstanding score. A haunting and intense film about the horrors of war. Based on the novel by Laurens van der Post. 124m/C VHS, DVD . JP GB David Bowie, Tom Conti, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Takeshi “Beat” Kitano, Jack Thompson, Takashi Naito, Alistair Browning, Johnny Okura, Yuya Uchida, Ryunosuke Kaneda, Kan Mikami, Yuji Honma, Diasuke Iijima; D: Nagisa Oshima; W: Nagisa Oshima, Paul Mayersberg; C: Toichiro Narushima. Natl. Bd. of Review ‘83: Actor (Conti).