Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence 
Directed by Nagisa Ôshima
Written by Nagisa Ôshima and Paul Mayersberg from a novel by Lourens van der Post
1982/Japan/UK
IMDb page
First viewing/Criterion Channel
Col. John Lawrence: You are the victim of men who think they are right… Just as one day you and captain Yonoi believed absolutely that you were right. And the truth is of course that nobody is right…
If I had known this was as brutal as it is, I might have given it a miss.
The setting is a Japanese POW camp on Java, Indonesia in 1942. The conditions are absolutely appalling and the Japanese overseers and Korean guards are brutal. Colonel John Lawrence (Tom Conte) is the liaison officer between the Japanese and the prisoners. He speaks fluent Japanese and understands the culture. The Japanese seem to like him. That does not prevent them from dishing out beatings and other punishments to him.
Major Jack Celliers (David Bowie) is also a captive. He is 100% defiant. He brings flowers for his fellows to eat when they are to be on an ordered fast. He talks back constantly. So naturally he suffers. With Jack Thompson as the Group Captain above the prisoners.
This film is one horrendous scene of torture and violence after another. It does make a plea for understanding and compassion. Conti is excellent. Bowie seems miscast but is not bad. Another rock star, Ryuichi Sakamoto, plays the camp commandant. The film looks beautiful and the score is fantastic.
I took this one out of order because I had misplaced it in my 1982 list.
