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The Burmese Harp [1956] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
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one of the best antiwar films ever made
Review date: 2007-05-19 Rating: 8 out of 10
The tragedy and the devastation of war has been the theme of many films.
Some of these films were making a simplistic attempt to glorify war and create heroes while some others made a serious attempt to recognize the war as an inevitable part of humanity however inhumane it might be.
Some other films made an effort to condemn war and try to influence the future generations of the importance of reconciliation and the avoidance of such devastating conflicts.
In each and every war film, the directors were always confronted with the dilemma of impartiality while trying to remain close to reality and present a believable story that can keep the audience interested.
Some critics suggest that the Burmese Harp is the most outstanding anti war film ever made.
I will not go to that extend but I can recognize the incredible talent and ability of the director Kon Ichikawa to present a war theme film so early after the Second World War to an audience in Japan freshly dramatized by the highs of Imperial patriotism and aggression, the suffering of the devastation at home and the realization of defeat.
He has chosen the music as the binding force among soldiers who are already at the lowest of their fighting spirit.
This is a story of a company of Japanese soldiers in Burma at the end of the Second World War facing the unavoidable defeat and the necessity to surrender.
Their captain, himself a music teacher, keeps the spirits high through music and singing and demonstrates an incredible humane approach.
One of the soldiers made and learned how to play a Burmese harp.
He is accompanying the chorus when they sing. Once the company surrenders to the British, the harp player, Musashima, undertakes a mission to negotiate the surrender of another company of Japanese soldiers but he fails.
In the aftermath of the battle that follows, he survives but never returns to his former company.
He becomes a Buddhist monk and goes around the war-ravaged country experiencing the misery of war, the devastation and the suffering.
Finally he is coming so close to his former company and yet he cannot return to Japan along with the rest of his fellow soldiers.
His duty as a Buddhist monk was to stay there and try to burry the many Japanese soldiers left in the battlefields.
In an emotional farewell, the monk with the Burmese harp is standing outside the fence of the camp where the rest of the Japanese soldiers are waiting repatriation.
They suddenly recognize him although they were thinking of him as lost in the battle and they sing for him one of the well known songs while he replies with his harp.
He disappears away from the possibility of repatriation to his new role as a monk and as the person to honor the dead soldiers.
A very powerful antiwar film, one of the very best; I could go as far as saying the very best but I have seen The Trojan Women directed by Cacoyannis and written by Euripides at 415 BC, and that can only be the yardstick.
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Product Details/Specifications
Actor(s):
Shôji Yasui
Rentaro Mikuni
Kô Nishimura
Taketoshi Naitô
Jun Hamamura
Director(s):
Recording label: Criterion
Manufacturer: Criterion
EAN: 0715515022729
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 1
Format: Black & White, DVD-Video, Subtitled, NTSC,
Release date: 2007-03-13
Universal product code (UPC): 715515022729
Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
Region code: 1
Running time: 116 minutes
Theatrical release date: 1967-04-28
Language: English (Subtitled)
Language: Japanese (Original Language)