Synopsis

​ In 1942, Captain Yonoi works in a POW camp on the Japanese-occupied island of Java. His only communication with the prisoners is through Lieutenant Colonel John Lawrence and Captain Hixley. Oshima's response to David Lean's The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), the film stars Ryuichi Sakamoto as the bushido-minded Captain Yonoi and marks the film debut of Tageshi Kitano.

Program Note

​ Nagisa Oshima adhered to the principle of excluding actors who appeared in films praising Japanese militarism for the casting of Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence. This resulted in the creation of a peculiar combination of actors, including Takeshi Kitano, David Bowie, and Ryuichi Sakamoto who made his debut as an actor and film composer through this film. These enfants terrible fearlessly provoke the order of the military maintained by violence and the hypocrisy of the code of Bushido. (Maeng Soojin)

Director

• • Nagisa Oshima
  • After graduated at Kyoto University, Oshima entered Shochiku Ofuna Studio. He made his feature-film directorial debut in 1959 with Street of Love and Hope. His next film Night and Fog in Japan(1960) was considered too political and it was pulled from circulation just three days after its release, which made Oshima leave the studio to become an independent producer. He made a lot of works, including In the Realm of the Senses(1976), with which Oshima gained international acclaim. With Empire of Passion, he won the Best Director Award at the Festival de Cannes in 1978. For the first time in 13 years after Oshima made Max, mon amour(1987), he released his last film Taboo and the film made its world premiere at the Festival de Cannes in 1999.