(Text: Catching the Wind and Catching Shadows)
Compared with the Japanese director Nagisa Oshima, his film "Sensory World" may be more famous, because the scale has no boundaries, and it was even impossible to release it at that time, and going to France to see "Sensory World" has become a boom. It can be said that the works of director Nagisa Oshima, whether they are violent, pornographic or criminal, are not small in scale, the subject matter is sensitive or unique, the perspective is sharp, the theme is profound and the style is skillful, and some works have some experimental styles, which seem to be a matter of course for Nagisa Oshima, who is an important standard-bearer of the new wave of Japanese cinema.
(The film "Sensory World" and director Nagisa Oshima)
His work is certainly not just "Sensory World", "The Cruel Story of Youth", which opened the prelude to the Japanese New Wave, directly attacked the collapse of the spiritual world of young people after the war, "The Undead of Love" focused on a unrequited love, "Teenager" focused on the survival of child victims in successive fraud cases across the country, "Mifadu" involved homosexuality among samurai, and of course, there was a super luxurious lineup of "Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence".
(Movie "Imperial Law")
The three main actors of the film are dual identities, Ryuichi Sakamoto, who plays Captain Senoi, a Japanese music master, once won an Academy Award with the soundtrack of "The Last Emperor", and in this film, in addition to dedicating his acting skills at the peak of his appearance, he also left the most emotional song "Forbidden Color", a quiet listening, will move to cry music. He also collaborated with director Nagisa Oshima on "Mihodo" as a soundtrack.
(Ryuichi Sakamoto and David Bowie)
Jack is played by the popular British rock singer David Bowie, this film is his debut work, his performance is remarkable, David Bowie's aura interpretation jack is completely at ease. Sergeant Ohara is played by the Japanese film director Takeshi Kitano, and Uncle Kitano Takeshi's Uehara is rude and a bit rogue, and a bit cute.
"Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence" is an Anglo-Japanese co-production, Nagisa Oshima is based on the British writer's true-life novel "The Seed and the Sower", the film presents us with a punishment for the homosexual atmosphere in the military from the beginning, Sergeant Ohara has a tough attitude, the image personality is also rude, Captain Senoi has a relatively rational attitude, the image is beautiful and handsome, and the story revolves around these two people. Senoi brings back an angelic English prisoner of war Jack, who is extremely concerned about Jack's origins, experiences, and health, and is full of respect and unspeakable feelings for him. And with the arrival of Jack, Senoi's temperament changes greatly, until the climax of the film, Jack's kiss directly leads to the collapse of Senoi.
Even more interesting in the film is Sergeant Ohara and Lawrence, two officers and prisoners of war who have a friendship. Lawrence was fluent in Japanese, so as a liaison officer between British prisoners of war and the Japanese army, he had more contact with Ohara. Ohara and Lawrence's attitude toward homosexuality and their treatment of war and captives show Oshima's understanding of the Japanese, their invisibility about homosexuality, and their blindness toward the emperor. With the end of the war, the final conversation between Ohara and Lawrence is more interesting, and Ohara thinks that he did the same thing as everyone else, why he is a death sentence. Lawrence didn't know what to reply to. In the change of Ohara's attitude and fate, Nagisa Oshima presents us with the smallness and helplessness of individuals who are alive as soldiers in war and as individuals in war.
In the film, there is no doubt that Senoi likes Jack, although Nagisa Oshima does not overexpress Jack's feelings for him, but from Jack's almost deviant behavior, it can be seen that he knows His heart for Senoi, and Jack is not disgusted. But there is the biggest obstacle in the middle of this relationship, two warriors, physically and mentally devastated by the war, even if they have feelings, they are doomed to be a tragedy.
Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence is about war, about the fate of the individual under the collective. Nagisa Oshima takes a different path, cutting from a secret love affair in the military. Like Ang Lee, here in Oshima Nagisa, love can transcend everything, the country, gender, political position is not a problem, love occurs between officers and prisoners of war of two warring countries, through the discussion of personal lust in the general environment, to reflect the director's thinking on the national collective and war.