The Burmese Harp (film)
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| The Burmese Harp (1956) | |
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| Directed by | Kon Ichikawa |
| Produced by | Masayuki Takagi |
| Written by | Takeyama Michio (novel), Natto Wada |
| Starring | Rentaro Mikuni, Shôji Yasui, Jun Hamamura |
| Distributed by | Brandon Films (USA) |
| Release date(s) | 21 January 1956 |
| Running time | 116 minutes |
| Language | Japanese |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
The Burmese Harp (ビルマの竪琴 Biruma no tategoto?) (a.k.a. Harp of Burma) is a 1956 black-and-white Japanese film directed by Kon Ichikawa. It was based on a novel written by Takeyama Michio. The film was nominated for the 1957 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.
In 1985, Ichikawa re-made the film, this time in colour and with different actors.
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[edit] Plot
Cpl. Mizushima, a Japanese soldier, becomes the harp (or) saung player of Captain Inouye's group, comprised of soldiers who fight and sing to raise moral in World War II, Burmese campaign. When they are offered shelter in a village, they eventually realize they are being watched by British soldiers. They attempt to get their ammunition (which they left outside) and see they're surrounded, fortunately World War II ended three days ago, and they are told they'll be sent home.
At a camp the soldiers are asked for a volunteer to talk down a group of soldiers who are still fighting on a mountain. Mizushima volunteers and is told he has 30 minutes to tell them to surrender. At the mountain he is almost shot down before they realize he is Japanese. He climbs up safely and asks to speak to whoever is in command. Meeting their commander in a cave bunker he informs him that the war has ended and they should surrender. The commander says he shall talk to the other soldiers, and they come out minutes later stating that unanimously they decided to fight to the end. Mizushima begs for them to surrender but they do nothing. He decides to ask for more time from the British, and when he creates a surrender flag, the others take it the wrong way and believe he's surrendering for them. They beat him unconscious and leave him on the floor. Soon the artillery begins again and because he's in the cave, he becomes the only survivor. He wanders around looking for the camp his group was in. He becomes sick looking at all the corpses on the ground and decides to help bury them and pray for them by stealing a monks robe.
Meanwhile, Captain Inouye and his men are wondering what happened, and cling to a belief that he is still out there. Eventually they buy a parrot (saying 'Mizushima lets go back to Japan together over and over again) and tell a villager to bring it to a monk they suspect Mizushima is hiding as. But they get a reply that he won't come back to Japan with them, because he must continue burying the dead.
[edit] Cast
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Rentaro Mikuni | Captain Inouye |
| Shoji Yasui | Cpl. Mizushima |
| Jun Hamamura | Pvt. Ito |
| Taketoshi Naito | Pvt. Kobayashi |
| Ko Nishimura | Baba (as Akira Nishimura) |
[edit] Awards and nominations
1957 Academy awards - best foreign film - nominated - Masayuki Takagi
1957 Mainichi film concours - best film score - won - Akira Ifukube
Venice film festival - OCIC Award - Honorable Mention - Kon Ichikawa
Venice film festival - San Giorgio Prize - Kon Ichikawa
Venice film festival -Golden Lion - Nominated - Kon Ichikawa [1]
[edit] See Also
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- The Burmese Harp (1956) at the Internet Movie Database
- The Burmese Harp (1985) at the Internet Movie Database
- Criterion Collection essay by Tony Rayns
- ビルマの竪琴 第一部望郷篇 (Biruma no tategoto pt.1 1956) (Japanese). Japanese Movie Database. Retrieved on 2007-07-13.
- ビルマの竪琴 第二部 (Biruma no tategoto pt. 2 1956) (Japanese). Japanese Movie Database. Retrieved on 2007-07-13.
- ビルマの竪琴 第一部望郷篇 (Biruma no tategoto - 1985) (Japanese). Japanese Movie Database. Retrieved on 2007-07-13.
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