This article is written by Time Editorial Writer @Nikko
37 years ago, Japan released a movie called Merry Christmas on the Battlefield.
Its birth has a decisive significance for the world film industry.
The theme is bold, depicting the feud and personal feelings of two men in the context of World War II.
The lavish lineup brings together three world-renowned artists: Nagisa Oshima, David Bowie, and Ryuichi Sakamoto.
The film was not only shortlisted for the main competition of the 36th Cannes Film Festival, but also won five awards, including the 1984 Film Magazine Audience Choice Award for Best Picture, and the 1984 Daily Film Best Director and Best Picture.
After so many years, the popularity of the film is still unabated. Every time it is screened at an international film festival, it is difficult to find a ticket.
I have to admit that although the film director Nagisa Oshima is the standard-bearer of the new wave of Japanese cinema, what really makes this film famous is the cooperation between two talented musicians from the East and the West.
Ryuichi Sakamoto, David Bowie
Ryuichi Sakamoto has been active in music, film, publishing and other fields since the 1970s, and he is known as a "professor" and is one of the most all-round musicians in the East of that era; and David Bowie needless to say, like a "rock chameleon", he not only has excellent musical talent, but also is sought after because of his avant-garde attitude to life and fashion taste.
It can be said that the spark collision between the two spokesmen of Eastern and Western cultures is quite interesting, not to mention that this is a same-sex theme film from the hands of film masters.
Today, time will take you back to that small island in the South China Sea and reminisce about this classic that is difficult to reproduce.
Nagisa Oshima and Merry Christmas on the Battlefield
Although two beautiful musicians supported the film, it was director Nagisa Oshima who single-handedly created the film.
Nagisa Oshima was a student at kyoto University's Faculty of Law, but in the 1960s, when the political climate in Japan was tense and deeply influenced by leftist ideas, he embarked on the road of film directing by chance and became a young director at Shochiku Studio.
Nagisa Oshima, full of spirits
His debut novel "Street of Love and Hope" shows the suffering life of the people at the bottom, and the second work, "The Cruel Story of Youth", was named "New Wave of Japanese Cinema" by the media, making Nagisa Oshima an independent filmmaker who opposed the Japanese film tradition and the Japanese film system.
Subsequently, he shot a number of political films with sensitive themes, including "Japanese Night and Fog", "Hanging Death Sentence", "Diary of a Thief in Shinjuku", etc., but the two films that made him famous in the world were indeed two "sword-and-sword" films, one was "Teenager", which reflected the tragic life of the underclass teenagers in contemporary Japanese society, and the other was the erotic film "Sensory World", which was long misrepresented as "the world's top ten forbidden films".
Nagisa Oshima, David Bowie, and Ryuichi Sakamoto on set
"Sensory World" is a French film from the capital level, the film was banned in Japan because of its bold theme, and there are not a few people who denounced him as a "Japanese traitor", which also makes Nagisa Oshima have to rely more on cooperation with foreign producers, and the subsequent "The Dead of Love" and "Marx My Love" are all the same, which also includes "Merry Christmas on the Battlefield".
The film's main investors came from the United Kingdom and New Zealand, and the producer was the famous Jeremy Thomas, who later produced business cards such as "The Last Emperor", "Nude Lunch", "Only Love Immortality" and so on. Overseas investment has made Nagisa Oshima's film production larger, and according to the requirements of the investors, the location of the film was filmed on the new Zealand island of Rarotonga.
Based on the novel In the Prison of shadows by British writer Lawrence Van Baust, Merry Christmas on the Battlefield is divided into three parts, Nagisa Oshima mainly brings the second part of the book, the story of Colliers, played by David Bowie, to the screen.
Why did David Bowie work with Nagisa Oshima?
Nagisa Oshima's first encounter with David Bowie was in 1980.
After watching the stage play "The Elephant Man", Bowie's outstanding stage performance impressed Nagisa Oshima and praised him for "having an indestructible inner spirit".
When he planned to bring "In the Prison of shadows" to the screen, he insisted that David Bowie must play it.
David Bowie
Nagisa Oshima hadn't thought about other candidates, but David Bowie lingered in his mind anyway, so he sent him the script. After reading the script, Bowie offered an invitation to Nagisa Oshima, hoping to talk in person.
When he came to David Bowie's office in New York, he had no idea, but to his surprise, Bowie not only patiently listened to his descriptions of the film and the characters, but also expressed great admiration for his work "Hanging Death", and even offered that he would learn some Japanese in advance, but also asked Nagisa Oshima to improve his English to facilitate the cooperation between the two people.
Ryuichi Sakamoto and David Bowie laughed heartily on set
Faced with a world-class musician and pop culture leader, Nagisa Oshima finally invited Bowie to write a soundtrack for the film, but Bowie refused: "This time I just want to concentrate on performing." ”
It's a win-win decision now, otherwise we wouldn't have heard the classic soundtrack "Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence" by Ryuichi Sakamoto, another of the film's main actors.
When filming begins, Bowie arrives at the Island of Nanyang as promised, and Nagisa Oshima personally greets him.
After the greeting, David Bowie said something meaningful: "Here we will be prisoners of the island for some time." ”
Ryuichi Sakamoto is heroic
Ryuichi Sakamoto and Merry Christmas on the Battlefield
Unlike David Bowie, who is already famous in the world, Sakamoto Ryuichi debuted only five years ago, although he is already well known in Japan, but his popularity and influence are far less than Bowie, and he is also respectful to Bowie on the shooting scene.
Nagisa Oshima invited him and Takeshi Kitano only because he saw a photo of the two in a photo album and felt that it was in line with the image in his heart.
Sakamoto Ryuichi's eyebrows are full of heroism, but there seems to be a little bit of sadness hidden, and Kitano Takeshi at that time was a bit dazed, which is very much in line with the background of Ohara in the original work.
Koichi Sakamoto
Ryuichi Sakamoto was born in the 1950s, and his boyhood coincided with the peak of Nagisa Oshima's creation, and he watched many of his films and praised them. After being invited, he quickly decided to appear in the film, not to mention playing a rivalry with a rock superstar like Bowie.
Merry Christmas on the Battlefield is Ryuichi Sakamoto's first film and the first time he scored a soundtrack. Contrary to david Bowie' situation, Nagisa Oshima invited Ryuichi Sakamoto to star in the film, but the latter offered to score the film.
Recalling this cooperation afterwards, Ryuichi Sakamoto's words were full of emotion.
"My first score was Nagisa Oshima's Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence, and that was my ideal, because he never asked me anything, I had complete creative freedom, but it was also the most difficult, after all, it was my first time, and many decisions needed to be made by myself."
Recalling the rivalry with Bowie, Ryuichi Sakamoto was full of happiness in his words: "For a month, I stayed with David Bowie on the island in the South Pacific every day, for a whole month!" The others are nice and very frank. ”
Why did Celliers kiss Senoi?
Of course, before this, we should clarify the feelings between the two people, and understand the feelings between them to understand the meaning of this kiss.
A surprise kiss
Apparently, Senoi was already emotional when he first met Colliers.
The first encounter between the two was in a court-martial, and when Colliers appeared in the courtroom without humility, Senoi's eyes were already drawn to him.
Senoi appeared in court as one of the officers on trial, and as the other two officers questioned Colliers harshly, Senoi's attitude began to appear ambiguous.
Of course, the movie still has to be judged from the perspective of the movie, which is certainly not imagined by time Jun, but by Nagisa Oshima using the movie scheduling. When the other two are cross-examined, Nagisa Oshima uses the push camera to bypass the interrogated Colliers and slowly pushes towardSenoi, lyrical music replaces the harsh scolding, and Ryuichi Sakamoto's expression appears to be somewhat slow, all of which show his indescribably complex emotional expression.
When it was his turn to interrogate, Senoi did not sit on the judge's seat as the other two, but walked down the steps, close to The Colliers, and even a little pious in tone and expression, perhaps this is the devotion to love. After cross-examination, he tried to alleviate Colliers' questions, and when he saw the scars on Bowie's body, Senoi's reaction was slightly sluggish.
This is perhaps the most "deviant" encounter in the history of cinema, a hostile identity, ambiguous emotions, a relationship between domination and captivity, but because of the emergence of love elements, the transfer of power has been realized.
After that, there are many details showing Senoi's affection for Coliers, beating the Japanese soldiers who stepped on The Coliers, sending blankets to the Colliers, even Lawrence said that Senoi has been covering The Colliers, and the Japanese soldiers feel that he is the devil, disturbing the spirit of Senoi, and cutting his hair, this very oriental act is to show the depth of this emotion to the fullest.
What about Colliers vs. Senoi?
As a captured British officer, Celliers' affection for Senoi was not as ostentatious as the latter's, but not entirely untraceable.
When celliers fled in the attack, celliers did not forget to pick up the blanket given to him by Senoi and the sentence "I wish I was your evil spirit" when answering Senoi's question, and ate the flowers, although like the kiss, some people understand this as Colliers taking advantage of Senoi's feelings for himself, but the second after the kiss, Colliers hesitated, revealing a different feeling.
Judging from the plot development, this kiss is The Kissers in order to save Captain Hicksley's life, but he uses the most romantic and deadly way to completely crush Senoi spiritually, not only humiliating Senoi, but also responding to his deep love for him, and using love to redeem Senoi, who is entangled in personal feelings and identity.
Takeshi Kitano and Nagisa Oshima
In addition to the two male protagonists, the film has another key role that Nagisa Oshima needs to decide, and his decision actually affects the trajectory of Japanese cinema in the next 20 years.
This key role is Sergeant Ohara, played by Takeshi Kitano. In the film, he runs the detention center together with Senoi, played by Ryuichi Sakamoto.
Takeshi Kitano
Takeshi Kitano was already famous in Japan before he made the film, all thanks to his other identity- a manga actor.
Manga is a form of Japanese stage comedy similar to cross-talk, which set off a national boom in the 1980s. In 1973, Takeshi Kitano formed the Two Beat group with his partner Kaneko Kiyoshi, becoming the mainstay of the manga craze, when his stage name was still peter takeshi.
In a way, it is most appropriate to say that Kitano Takeshi is a Japanese Guo Degang.
Before being invited by Nagisa Oshima, Takeshi Kitano never imagined that one day he would star in a movie or even become a director. Nagisa Oshima had always wanted to find a suitable actor to play the Japanese cobia from the peasant background, and the face that was a little green and twitching because of spasms could not be more appropriate.
After the release of the film, Kitano Takeshi also gained wide recognition and began to play some roles one after another, until 1989, when he starred in "The Violent Man", the original director Fukasaku Shinji was ill, Kitano Takeshi temporarily sat in the director's chair, and never came down, which led to the later "Hanabi", "Bad Boy Sky", "Kikujiro's Summer", "Little Sonata"...
From this point of view, the biggest legacy of "Merry Christmas on the Battlefield" to Japanese movies is not the amazing kiss of David Bowie and Ryuichi Sakamoto, but the seeds of Japanese movies planted on Takeshi Kitano and inherited by him.
Takeshi Kitano naturally regarded Nagisa Oshima as a mentor, and in 1996, when Nagisa Oshima returned to Japan with a sudden cerebral hemorrhage in London, Takeshi Kitano personally painted a painting for him, which was painted on Nagisa Oshima on the director's chair, and Takeshi Kitano wrote next to it: "The day I wait for director Oshima to return to the shooting scene."
Takeshi Kitano made good on his promise, and in 1999, after winning the Golden Lion Award, he returned as an actor and starred in Nagisa Oshima's last film, Mifado, which is also a film about same-sex love.
Takeshi Kitano waited by Nagisa Oshima and completed his posthumous work.
Stills from "Imperial Law"
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