Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence

Set in a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp towards the end of World War II, the story subtly explores the bonds that develop between men in stressful situations; bonds that often transcend culture and inexplicably, sometimes, even transcend the barriers between captor and captive. Based on a novel by Sir Laurens Van Der Post. Stars David Bowie, Tom Conti, Jack Thompson and Ryuichi Sakamoto Takeshi.

Credits

production company

Recorded Picture Company

producer

Jeremy Thomas

director

Nagisa Oshima

Duration

02:02:00:00

Production places

United Kingdom

Production dates

1983

Collection metadata

ACMI Identifier

324891

Language

English

Audience classification

MA

Subject categories

Adaptations

Armed Forces, Military, War & Weapons → Prisoners of war

Armed Forces, Military, War & Weapons → World War, 1939-1945 - Prisoners and prisons

Courtroom, Crime, Espionage & Thrillers

Courtroom, Crime, Espionage & Thrillers → Prison films

Feature films

Feature films → Feature films - Great Britain

Feature films → Feature films - Japan

Literature → English literature - Film and video adaptations

War films

Sound/audio

Sound

Colour

Holdings

VHS; Access Print (Section 1)

Please note: this archive is an ongoing body of work. Sometimes the credit information (director, year etc) isn’t available so these fields may be left blank; we are progressively filling these in with further research.

Cite this work on Wikipedia

If you would like to cite this item, please use the following template: {{cite web |url=https://acmi.net.au/works/80845--merry-christmas-mr-lawrence/ |title=Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence |author=Australian Centre for the Moving Image |access-date=19 May 2022 |publisher=Australian Centre for the Moving Image}}

United Kingdom, 1983