The Burmese Harp

1956 [JAPANESE]

Action / Drama / Music / War

18
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten 91% · 10 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Upright 91% · 1K ratings
IMDb Rating 8.0/10 10 7161 7.2K

japan buddhism buddhist monk world war ii choir burma

Plot summary

In Burma during the closing days of WWII, a Japanese soldier separated from his unit disguises himself as a Buddhist monk to escape imprisonment as a POW.

Director

Kon Ichikawa Photo
Kon Ichikawa

Top cast

Jun Hamamura Photo
Jun Hamamura as Ito
Rentarô Mikuni Photo
Rentarô Mikuni as Captain Inouye
Kô Nishimura Photo
Kô Nishimura as Baba
Kunitarô Sawamura Photo
Kunitarô Sawamura as Old man
720p.BluRay 1080p.BluRay
1.04 GB
968*720
Japanese 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 56 min
Seeds 3
1.93 GB
1440*1072
Japanese 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 56 min
Seeds 17

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by LunarPoise 8 / 10

war as existential crisis

Towards the end of WWII, a group of Japanese soldiers struggle through the chaos of national disintegration, trying to reach the border through the Burmese jungle. Their Captain is musically trained and forms them into an ad hoc male choir in order to maintain morale. Foot soldier Mizushima plays the titular instrument and as such become a talismanic figure in the group. When he later disappears and suffers an existential crisis, his fate comes to obsess the group as a whole.Ichikawa's iconic piece contains a strong anti-war theme that survives beyond its 1945 setting. Mizushima's troop are timeless, soldiers dreaming of homes, wives, town festivals; clinging to nostalgia to guide them home and fighting on for each other rather than any greater cause inspired by the imagined national community. Much more identifiable with the period are the troop holding out against the British even after national surrender, fanatics looking to die for an Emperor who has forsaken them rather than return to their families and rebuilding of the community. Among these men, there are no songs.Mizushima's conversion from soldier-musician to selfless monk symbolises a state of reflection that follows all armed conflict. The film has been criticised for failing to confront the barbarism of the Imperial army, but this lack of identification with specific national failings is what gives the film a theme that transgresses to other cultures, conflicts and evils - the coming to terms with a life to be lived in the aftermath of horror. The flaws on the Yamato spirit may not be interrogated, but the atrocities of war are present, most visibly in Mizushima's encounter with the rotting flesh of fallen comrades being picked over by scavenger birds. The framing is impeccable, and those looking for a quintessential Japanese aesthetic will be surprised by the extensive use of closeups. The music is spare and suitably evocative of military camaraderie and frightened young men coping far from home. Mizushima's journey is both symbolic and highly plausible, as is the reaction of his brothers-in-arms. Great cinema in its own right, and at the very top of the tree in anti-war movies.
Reviewed by jason-167 9 / 10

a movie to carry with you

Living in Thailand at the age of 10, I saw this movie broadcast on TV. Thirty years later I still think of it. And eventually I became a dharma student. Coincidence? I think not! Such is the awesome impact of this movie. More than an important anti-war film, it can really bring out some seldom expressed feelings - not because of carefully crafted scenarios which bring moral indignation against war, confusion or cruelty, but instead showing a more natural horror of war's results. After watching the film for the third time, I still feel a deep visceral pang when Mizushima covers his face and runs past yet another mountain of rotting bodies he finds on the shores of the river.What's really sad is that you can't get the movie on DVD!
Read more IMDb reviews

2 Comments

Be the first to leave a comment