Available on YouTube and The Criterion Channel with English Subtitles
Kon Ichikawa was a Japanese film director and screenwriter. His work displays a vast range in genre and style, from the anti-war films The Burmese Harp and Fires on the Plain, to the documentary Tokyo Olympiad, which won two BAFTA Film Awards, and the 19th-century revenge drama An Actor's Revenge.
The Burmese Harp (ビルマの竪琴, Biruma no Tategoto) is a 1956 Japanese drama film directed by Kon Ichikawa. Based on a novel of the same name written by Michio Takeyama, it tells the story of Japanese soldiers who fought in the Burma Campaign during World War II. A member of the group goes missing after the war, and the soldiers hope to uncover whether their friend survived, and if he is the same person as a Buddhist monk they see playing a harp. The film was among the first to show the losses of the war from a Japanese soldier's perspective.
The film is divided into two parts. The first part depicts the Japanese soldiers fighting in the Burmese jungle. They are exhausted and demoralized, but they find solace in music and singing. The second part follows Private Mizushima (Shôji Yasui), the harp player, after he has disguised himself as a Buddhist monk. He travels through the countryside, playing his harp and spreading a message of peace.
The Burmese Harp is a powerful and moving film that explores the themes of war, peace,
The Burmese Harp is a powerful and moving film that explores the themes of war, peace, and redemption. It is also a beautiful and lyrical film, with stunning cinematography and haunting music by Akira Ifukube.
The film was a critical and commercial success in Japan, and it won numerous awards, including the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival. It has also been praised by critics and filmmakers around the world, and it is considered to be one of the greatest Japanese films ever made.
In addition to its artistic merits, The Burmese Harp is also significant for its historical importance. It was one of the first Japanese films to confront the realities of World War II head-on. The film's message of peace and reconciliation was particularly relevant in Japan in the mid-1950s, as the country was still recovering from the war
I found the scenes depicting life in Burma with the beautiful temples as background very moving.
I hope to watch the director 's Fires on the Plain soon.
1 comment:
This sounds like a worthwhile film to watch; how interesting that it was the first depiction of the Japanese experience of that conflict.
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