The Burmese Harp (1956)
(Birumano no tategoto)
Country: JAP
Technical: bw 116m
Director: Kon Ichikawa
Cast: Rentarô Mikuni, Shôji Yasui, Jun Hamamura
Synopsis:
After the defeat of the Imperial Army, a platoon of soldiers given to singing to maintain its spirits sends its harpist on a mission to broker peace between the British and a squad of hardliners. Traumatised by the experience, he is nursed by a holy man but returns to bury the dead he found on his journey to rejoin his comrades, ultimately choosing to remain in Burma and continue in this sacred task.
Review:
One of the great anti-war movies, like From Here to Eternity this spends most of its running time outside the period of hostilities. The emphasis is on the horror of death far from home, bodies left to rot or serve as carrion in the sun. There is also a strong buddhist dimension, with the hero's transformation into monk, and then priest, and the harp's function both as a secular instrument of entertainment, and as a link with the sublime, and the missing comforts of civilization: in a memorable scene, cornered Japanese soldiers and their British ambushers exchange renditions of Home! Sweet Home!
(Birumano no tategoto)
Country: JAP
Technical: bw 116m
Director: Kon Ichikawa
Cast: Rentarô Mikuni, Shôji Yasui, Jun Hamamura
Synopsis:
After the defeat of the Imperial Army, a platoon of soldiers given to singing to maintain its spirits sends its harpist on a mission to broker peace between the British and a squad of hardliners. Traumatised by the experience, he is nursed by a holy man but returns to bury the dead he found on his journey to rejoin his comrades, ultimately choosing to remain in Burma and continue in this sacred task.
Review:
One of the great anti-war movies, like From Here to Eternity this spends most of its running time outside the period of hostilities. The emphasis is on the horror of death far from home, bodies left to rot or serve as carrion in the sun. There is also a strong buddhist dimension, with the hero's transformation into monk, and then priest, and the harp's function both as a secular instrument of entertainment, and as a link with the sublime, and the missing comforts of civilization: in a memorable scene, cornered Japanese soldiers and their British ambushers exchange renditions of Home! Sweet Home!
(Birumano no tategoto)
Country: JAP
Technical: bw 116m
Director: Kon Ichikawa
Cast: Rentarô Mikuni, Shôji Yasui, Jun Hamamura
Synopsis:
After the defeat of the Imperial Army, a platoon of soldiers given to singing to maintain its spirits sends its harpist on a mission to broker peace between the British and a squad of hardliners. Traumatised by the experience, he is nursed by a holy man but returns to bury the dead he found on his journey to rejoin his comrades, ultimately choosing to remain in Burma and continue in this sacred task.
Review:
One of the great anti-war movies, like From Here to Eternity this spends most of its running time outside the period of hostilities. The emphasis is on the horror of death far from home, bodies left to rot or serve as carrion in the sun. There is also a strong buddhist dimension, with the hero's transformation into monk, and then priest, and the harp's function both as a secular instrument of entertainment, and as a link with the sublime, and the missing comforts of civilization: in a memorable scene, cornered Japanese soldiers and their British ambushers exchange renditions of Home! Sweet Home!