Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence

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Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence

Directed by	Nagisa Oshima
Produced by	Jeremy Thomas
Written by	Nagisa Oshima Paul Mayersberg
Starring	David Bowie Tom Conti Ryuichi Sakamoto Takeshi Kitano
Music by	Ryuichi Sakamoto
Distributed by	Universal Pictures (USA) Palace Pictures (UK) Optimum Releasing (UK, DVD)
Release date(s)	1983 (U.S. release)
Running time	118 min.
Language	Japanese

Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (Senjou no Merii Kurisumasu aka Furyo in many European editions) is a 1983 movie directed by Nagisa Oshima, produced by Jeremy Thomas and starring David Bowie, Tom Conti, Ryuichi Sakamoto, and Takeshi Kitano. It was written by Oshima and Paul Mayersberg and based on World War II experiences as a prisoner of war of the writer Laurens van der Post as told in his works The Seed and the Sower (1963) and The Night of the New Moon (1970). Ryuichi Sakamoto also wrote the musical score.

The film deals with the relationships among four men in a Japanese prisoner of war camp during the Second World War - Jack Celliers (Bowie), a rebellious prisoner with a guilty secret; Captain Yonoi (Sakamoto), the young camp commandant; John Lawrence (Conti), a British officer who has lived in Japan and speaks Japanese fluently; and Sergeant Hara (Kitano), with whom Lawrence develops a peculiar friendship.