World War II · Film · 1983
Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence
戦場のメリークリスマス
In a Japanese prison camp on Java, a Japanese-speaking British officer tries to bridge two cultures, while the camp commander becomes fixated on a defiant new prisoner.
Where it happened
Follow the story across 1 places.
Stop 1: Lebak Sembada camp, western Java (fictional)
Key location
Captain Yonoi runs the camp by the samurai code; Lawrence translates, Celliers provokes, and a stolen radio brings everyone to the edge.
What really happened
Japan conquered the Dutch East Indies in early 1942, and on Java tens of thousands of Dutch, British, Australian and American servicemen became prisoners. Many were later shipped to labour projects such as the Burma Railway, and roughly a quarter of all Allied prisoners held by Japan died in captivity.
The film adapts the memoirs of Laurens van der Post, a South African officer held on Java from 1942 to 1945 who spoke Japanese, and was co-written by Ōshima. The camp and its characters are fictional. After the war Allied courts across Asia tried thousands of Japanese soldiers for mistreating prisoners, and several hundred were executed, the fate that awaits Sergeant Hara.
Where to watch
Checking streaming services…
Full details
- Original title
- 戦場のメリークリスマス
- Directed by
- Nagisa Ōshima
- Countries
- Japan, United Kingdom, New Zealand
- Languages
- English, Japanese
- Released
- 1983
- Period
- –
- Theaters of war
- China & Southeast Asia
- Themes
- Prisoners of war
