Simply Perfect

I wanted to but couldn't!

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

This Japanese-British co-production was a massive hit overseas but went largely unnoticed in the United States. A real shame for anyone who hasn't seen this marvelous war drama.The script is taut and intense maintaining a brooding atmosphere with few lighthearted moments such as actor David Bowie's consumption of flowers in defiance of t=his captors' orders to starve the prisoners or Bowie's monologue to himself during an early scene in the movie. The pacing is a bit tedious at times as it does slow down midway.Focusing on British POWs in a Japanese POW camp, particularly a rebellious British Major (David Bowie) who shakes up the camp's structure upon his arrival ; becoming a source of fascination of the Japanese officers. The titular Lawrence (Tom Conti) provides the film's moral support as he tries to keep his troops' morale up as they are routinely mistreated.While Tom Conti is excellent as the film's title character and is seen for the majority of the film, the screen really belongs to the ever wonderful David Bowie as Major Jack 'Strafer' Celliers. Bowie is reserved, commanding, outspoken and rebellious throughout the whole narrative. Celliers is the catalyst for the film's events as he spreads his rebellious nature around the camp and becomes a symbol of hope for his fellow soldiers while drawing ire from the Japanese officers. If you want an unconventional war film that is more character-driven, this film is one you must see.

When David Bowie died earlier this month, I decided to immediately order this from Netflix. My mom ended up watching this with me though she missed some sequences as we were eating dinner during it. She found it depressing. Well, it is as it depicts a prisoner-of-war camp in Indonesia during World War II. Bowie plays a British soldier who gets sent there and he seems to have an effect on the commandant there. By the way, he's not the Mr. Lawrence of the title, that's Tom Conti as the British colonel who knows the language of the Japanese officers there. I'll admit right off the bat that some sequences confused me like the ones of a flashback of Bowie's life before the war concerning his little brother. Had I not read some of the synopsis on Wikipedia, I would have been completely in the dark about that one. Still, this was a mostly compelling drama of the brutality of that time and place. So on that note, I say give Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence a look.

I'll just start out by saying that David bowie was a joke in his role. in a pow situation, he pantomimed shaving while having no evidence of any beard, and all the while wearing a kilo of product in his hair. his uniform, after months in the jungle only showed stone wash wear. bowie was a wooden joke who didn't want to ruin his bi-primped, rock and roll image, and i wish they had never cast him.and the main reason is: this film sports a majority Japanese production team; this along with an authentic story, gives us a real insight into the wwII Japanese psyche--something often ignored in the post-wwII Hollywood movies. the American public was after justification for the bomb, and retribution for their dead.and for the latter, this is an important film. it was made in 1983, and many jap vets were still living, and for a Japanese production team to coagulate such a homogeneous film is quite amazing.watch it and blow off bowie. he no longer holds the cultural sway he did back then. it will no longer be a rock and roll sacrilege.

I had a really hard time looking past the raw 80's of Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence. I have to be honest and say I found it a little boring, maybe I missed something, but the story seemed bland and slow. I know all films don't have to have a lot of action, but I didn't feel much of a conflict and nothing happened to make me care for any character. There's also the strange flashback that confused me more. I couldn't really figure out what the relevance of it was, that he's not saint? It just didn't seem to have anything to do with Bowie's character. Besides my indifference with the film I really thought David Bowie and the rest of the cast delivered great performances.