Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence
Well. I call the rape of a Belgian soldier by a Korean soldier in WWII the perfect to start a Christmas movie, don't you?
I didn't expect there to be much about Christmas in here, not of the jolly ho-ho-ho variety and there wasn't. In a way, it's a relief. I was nearly in a diabetic coma.
But seriously -
In its favor:
A young-ish and extremely trim Tom Conti.
A young and perpetually thin David Bowie.
And for comedy, David Bowie trying to carry Tom Conti over a wall. Conti easily outweighed him by 20 lbs, although they're both close to the same height.
Set on a tropical island in 1942, in a Japanese prisoner of war camp, this does not play out all of the tricks of a war story. It's more about complicated relationships. Tom Conti's character is carefully balancing his ability as an interpreter, a representative of the POWs, and a student of Japanese culture.
Discuss.
But no, don't show this to the kiddles unless you want to give them nightmares.
And I do wish David Bowie's character hadn't taken so much to heart about his brother's singing voice. It all happened when the kid was maybe 10 and he only had another few years before it would have been lost to puberty.
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