The Burmese Harp ( Biruma no tategoto ) ( Harp of Burma )

The Burmese Harp (Blu-Ray) (*)

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Original Title: Biruma no tategoto
Alternate Title: Harp of Burma
Screened, competed or awarded at:
Oscar Academy Awards
Venice Film Festival
Other Film Festival Awards

Language Selections:
English ( Subtitles )
Japanese ( Dolby Digital 2.0 )
Japanese ( Dolby DTS-HD Master Audio )

Product Origin/Format:
United Kingdom ( Blu-Ray/Region B )

Running Time:
117 min

Aspect Ratio:
Fullscreen

Special Features:
Interactive Menu
Scene Access
Trailer(s)
Black & White
Booklet
Remastered

Movie filmed in 1956 and produced in:
Japan ( India, Eastern Asia )

Directed By:
Kon Ichikawa

Written By:
Michio Takeyama
Natto Wada

Actors:
Rentarô Mikuni ..... Captain Inouye
Shôji Yasui ..... Mizushima
Jun Hamamura ..... Ito
Taketoshi Naitô ..... Kobayashi
Shunji Kasuga ..... Maki
Kô Nishimura ..... Baba
Keishichi Nakahara ..... Takagi
Toshiaki Ito ..... Hashimoto
Hiroshi Tsuchikata ..... Okada
Tomio Aoki ..... Oyama
Nobuteru Hanamura ..... Nakamura
Sanpei Mine ..... Abe
Takashi Koshiba ..... Shimizu
Tomoko Tonai ..... Nagai
Tokuhei Miyahara

Synopsis:

Set against the final days of World War II, The Burmese Harp portrays the experiences of a group of exhausted, war-scarred Japanese soldiers as they prepare to return to Japan. The film focuses on Shoji Yasui, a soldier known to his comrades for his harp playing, who fails to convince a resistant company to surrender and is presumed dead when a battle destroys their hillside encampment. To rejoin his fellow soldiers, Shoji steals the robes of a Buddhist monk and begins to make his way across the countryside. But along the way, he becomes fixated on the hundreds of abandoned, unburied war casualties and begins to assume the duties of his costume and tend to the bodies. Meanwhile, Shoji's friends mount a search for him, eventually noticing the monk to whom he bears an uncanny resemblance. Director Kon Ichikawa's film was adapted by frequent collaborator (and wife) Nato Wada) from a book by Michio Takeyama designed to introduce children to the fundamental principles of Buddhism.

A rhapsodic celebration of song, a brutal condemnation of wartime mentality, and a lyrical statement of hope within darkness; even amongst the riches of 1950s' Japanese cinema, The Burmese Harp, directed by Kon Ichikawa (Alone Across the Pacific, Tokyo Olympiad), stands as one of the finest achievements of its era. At the close of World War II, a Japanese army regiment in Burma surrenders to the British. Private Mizushima is sent on a lone mission to persuade a trapped Japanese battalion to surrender also. When the outcome is a failure, he disguises himself in the robes of a Buddhist monk in hope of temporary anonymity as he journeys across the landscape but he underestimates the power of his assumed role. A visually extraordinary and deeply moving vision of horror, necessity, and redemption in the aftermath of war, Ichikawa's breakthrough film is one of the great humanitarian affirmations of the cinema.

July, 1943: Japan's army is on the run. A platoon in Burma sings to keep its spirit up. Inspiration comes from their self taught lute player, Mizushima. At war's end, while they await repatriation at Mudon prison camp, Mizushima is sent to convince a Japanese company dug into a mountain that it must surrender. He fails, the British attack, many die, and his companions fear he's been killed. However, he has survived and disguised himself as a Buddhist priest. En route to Mudon to join his comrades, the frequent sight of dead Japanese soldiers overwhelms him. He vows to live a life of prayer, burying bones and bodies; his friends want him to return with them to Japan.

This product was added to our catalog on Tuesday 07 December, 2010.

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