303. Burmese Harp (Biruma No Tategoto) (1956)
Directed By Kon Ichikawa
Synopsis
There's a battalion of singing Japanese, and one of them plays the harp. When they are not committing war-crimes, they sing and dance and all that shit. All that singing and dancing leads to losing the war. After they are interned waiting to be repatriated, they send the harpist out to convince another battalion to surrender. They don't surrender as he is presumed dead. On his way back to rejoin his battalion he discovers a new meaning to his life: to bury the unburied Japanese dead in the battle fields. He assumes the guise of a monk and goes about his business, but his battalion wants his to rejoin them, and do what they can to bring him back. He stays in Burma.
Review
As you might have guessed I love Japanese cinema, be it by Kurosawa, Mizoguchi, Ozu or Ichikawa. This film was no exception. It might be slightly more heavy-handed in its sentimentalism than the other Japanese films already reviewed. It might be less believable than those films as well, because with hindsight we know what really went on in Burma.
The problem of war atrocities can be solved by imagining that this was a platoon of good men, and the contrast between them and the guys at the mountain is made clear in the film. As usual the film is incredibly touching, painful and beautiful.
Music is used tremendously well here, and at times it might seem like "The Horror of War: The Musical", but fortunately all the music is completely in context and never gets in any way ridiculous. Another beautiful Japanese film that you should add to your collection.
Final Grade
9/10
Trivia
From Wikipedia:
Awards
1957 Academy awards - best foreign film - nominated - Masayuki Takagi
1957 Mainichi film concours - best film score - won - Akira Ifukube
Venice film festival - OCIC Award - Honorable Mention - Kon Ichikawa
Venice film festival - San Giorgio Prize - Kon Ichikawa
Venice film festival -Golden Lion - Nominated - Kon Ichikawa
Someone decided it would be a good idea to have images of the film to the soundtrack of Opeth... whatever:
Synopsis
There's a battalion of singing Japanese, and one of them plays the harp. When they are not committing war-crimes, they sing and dance and all that shit. All that singing and dancing leads to losing the war. After they are interned waiting to be repatriated, they send the harpist out to convince another battalion to surrender. They don't surrender as he is presumed dead. On his way back to rejoin his battalion he discovers a new meaning to his life: to bury the unburied Japanese dead in the battle fields. He assumes the guise of a monk and goes about his business, but his battalion wants his to rejoin them, and do what they can to bring him back. He stays in Burma.
Review
As you might have guessed I love Japanese cinema, be it by Kurosawa, Mizoguchi, Ozu or Ichikawa. This film was no exception. It might be slightly more heavy-handed in its sentimentalism than the other Japanese films already reviewed. It might be less believable than those films as well, because with hindsight we know what really went on in Burma.
The problem of war atrocities can be solved by imagining that this was a platoon of good men, and the contrast between them and the guys at the mountain is made clear in the film. As usual the film is incredibly touching, painful and beautiful.
Music is used tremendously well here, and at times it might seem like "The Horror of War: The Musical", but fortunately all the music is completely in context and never gets in any way ridiculous. Another beautiful Japanese film that you should add to your collection.
Final Grade
9/10
Trivia
From Wikipedia:
Awards
1957 Academy awards - best foreign film - nominated - Masayuki Takagi
1957 Mainichi film concours - best film score - won - Akira Ifukube
Venice film festival - OCIC Award - Honorable Mention - Kon Ichikawa
Venice film festival - San Giorgio Prize - Kon Ichikawa
Venice film festival -Golden Lion - Nominated - Kon Ichikawa
Someone decided it would be a good idea to have images of the film to the soundtrack of Opeth... whatever:
posted by Francisco Silva @ 2:49 AM
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