"Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence" may be the most famous gay movie in history, but I think it's okay to watch this movie if it's not gay. It actually discusses physical and spiritual issues, and it is Nagisa Oshima's influence on Japanese culture. The tragic analysis of the incision. As an Asian, I like this film far more than "The Bridge on the River Kwai", which discusses nationality. I am very interested to know whether Western audiences can understand the film of Nagisa Oshima, and how much they can understand.
body and spirit
Eastern nations emphasize the spirit and despise the body. The Japanese were the best among them. They defeated the Russian army in the Russo-Japanese War with the Long Live Charge, and also caused the American imperialists to suffer a lot in the Pacific Ocean. The old Japanese army looked down on the British and American ghosts and beasts, and felt that their mental strength was too weak, especially the prisoners of war. They were just villains who were greedy for life and feared death, and they were not worthy of respect. We Japanese are small in size and small in tanks, but we are mentally taller than you, this is the Japanese philosophy.
But Japan is also a nation of extreme fetishes. The sword is the symbol of Bushido. Officers must practice judo and kendo, and strengthen the spirit by strengthening the body. Officers from the martial family have to bring their ancestral sabres to the battlefield. It is puzzling to carry such an iron lump that has no practical use for the South and the North. These are all people who can calculate ballistics with non-points! The Japanese themselves felt that this was not right, so they invented a set of sayings. For example, Miyamoto Musashi defeated his old enemy Sasaki Kojiro with a sword with a oars, so as to prove that the highest state of kendo is that there is no sword in the hand and there is a sword in the heart. , but is this in line with the Western chivalry of "Fair play"? The Japanese samurai are still proud of their swords, and I haven't seen anyone walking around with an oar, so it can't be justified.
The movie begins with the trial of Kim Ben, a gay North Korean soldier. Kim Ben was ordered to be cut to the stomach because he raped Dutch prisoners of war and shamed the Japanese army, but the former military officer told Captain Shinoi that he died in an accident while on duty. , so that Kim can enter the Yasukuni Shrine, and his family members who suffered in North Korea can receive pensions. Later, the captain's orderly failed to assassinate Celliers by incision. Yonoi knew about the two things and acquiesced.
So here comes the question. The practice of orderlies is quite excusable, but if the Japanese really pay so much attention to honor and the spirit of Bushido, why did they choose to lie and let a shame like Jin Ben enter the Yasukuni Shrine? Was this sacrificing the sacred Bushido spirit for the body of the Kanamoto family? This is a tacit understanding full of contradictions in the Japanese, and it is also the spirit of what the Japanese call "harmony".
The East and the West have different understandings of the body and the spirit. The Japanese believe that the body is a burden to the spirit, and that the body is good for the spirit, while Westerners think that the two are the same thing. The Japanese had to fast to keep their minds clear before the belly cut, while Celliers pretended to drink tea and have breakfast before the execution; the former soldier chanted at the funeral of the Japanese soldier to pray for the salvation of the soul, while Lawrence prayed to God for bread at the funeral of the Dutch soldier ;The Japanese use fasting to commemorate the dead, the British eat longevity cakes in memory of their comrades... British prisoners of war seem to think about the satisfaction of the body all the time, while the Japanese emphasize the spirit all the time. where the conflict lies.
Yonoi and Celliers first met in court. To the Japanese it was an unbearable shame to surrender, to the British it was a personal choice. With only 5 people, Celliers dared to parachute into Java to attack the Japanese transport troops and succeeded many times, as if Lawrence of Arabia was alive. This was an incredible feat for the Japanese, but he chose to surrender in shame after running out of ammunition and food. This is the Japanese Unbearable shame. Yonoi insisted on wearing abstinent collared wool military uniforms in the hot tropics, while Celliers was "unscrupulous" and took off his shirt in court to show his scarred back. Yonoi was the only Japanese officer to defend Celliers in court, citing Shakespeare's "To be or not to be". From then on, the two began to appreciate each other. For Genoi, it was easy to destroy Celliers physically, but it was difficult to defeat him mentally. The victory of spirit was the real victory, and the contest between the two began. Both want to overwhelm each other mentally.
Celliers was falsely shot, and he was shot unscathed after a salvo, which was a psychic shot. Yonoi walked out triumphantly from behind Celliers. This was the first fight between the two.
Kendo, Incision and Fasting - The Battle of the Spirits
As Lawrence said, after Celliers arrived at the prisoner of war camp, Yonoi became "beastly", and the howl when practicing swordsmanship frightened the British wounded. From the scene of the North Korean soldier Kim Ben, we can see that in the past, Noi used a wooden sword to practice swords, but when Celliers came, he used a real sword and cut his opponent. His shouting was a more mental show, and both Celliers and Lawrence felt he had something on his mind.
"If he got something in his mind, Why don't he come out?"
“I think he is”
Come out is a pun, meaning coming out of the closet.
Yonoi arranged for a British officer to attend the incision ceremony of Kim Ben. Celliers was not present because of his weakness, and Yonoi was a little disappointed. Incision is a kind of spiritual display. The former military officer said that he has not seen the Japanese without seeing the incision. This is the strongest side of the Japanese, and it is also the side that the British most want to show. Our Yamato nation can endure the pain and sacrifice. life, while you Englishmen wag your tail to the enemy for mercy. And Lawrence said, "Do you want me to hate the Japanese?" This is the ugliest part of the Japanese in the eyes of the British. Even if they despise life, they are cowardly who dare not face their fate.
After the belly-cutting ceremony, Yonoi ordered the British to fast, and he would also fast with the British to eliminate spiritual laziness through physical suffering. It was also to overwhelm the British mentally, to show that the Japanese were more tolerant of physical pain, and the Japanese believed that colonels who resisted the fast were disrespectful to the dead. During the fasting period, Celliers blatantly disobeyed the order and stole the longevity cake and flowers to distribute to the British soldiers. This scene is the first climax of the whole film. Celliers' actions are rebellious to the enemy as a soldier, caring for the soldiers as an officer, and contempt for paganism as a Christian. And he himself violated the fast (eating) and did not violate the fast (eat flowers, not food), whether from the British point of view or from the Japanese point of view, this move is "Honorable" and completely escapes In view of the Japanese value system, there is no way for Shiye Jingqi to do anything, and he can only scolded powerlessly.
"Are you a evil spirit?!"
"One of yours I hope"
Again a pun, negative numbers, a Shinto evil spirit, not a Christian devil. Yonoi is really suppressed everywhere.
mental laziness
In Yonoi's view, Celliers is an "Honorable man" who wants to replace the old stubborn British colonel with Celliers. "You are all honorable men but I prefer another Honorable man." From the Japanese point of view, the colonel is a mentally lazy person, he never thinks, only lives in his own world, and mindlessly abides by the British Code of conduct, I think it's fine to just treat the Japanese as fools. When Lawrence told him that the Japanese had defeated the Russians, the Colonel's first reaction was "Which school are you from?" What is the difference between this blind optimism and the Japanese superstition that the emperor is a god? Be careful, the devil will give you a Bataan death march to deal with all kinds of dissatisfaction.
Celliers, on the other hand, knows the Japanese better and fights the Japanese in Japanese ways. After he and Lawrence escaped from prison, he was met by Yonoi. Yonoi asked for a duel. If he won, he would be free. Of course, this is not physical freedom, but spiritual freedom. Celliers put down the bayonet with a smile, he was not afraid of a duel, he chose to prove in his own way that the spirit of the British was stronger, mentally overwhelmed and conquered Yonoi.
Unlike Yonoi who always wanted to outsmart the British mentally, the British didn't care much about spirituality. Lawrence felt the pain of powerlessness in it, so he said "sometimes victory is unbearable". The former military officer can accept death calmly, but he doesn't understand where he is wrong. He just did the same thing as other soldiers. There is no conclusion about who is right and who is wrong to death. At the end of the film, he didn't spit out his breath. In my heart, that's why my brother Wu in the society has the power to say "Merry Christmas! Mr,. Lawrence!"
Redeem yourself from the collective
The collective and the ego are always an issue for the military. The military expects soldiers to be assertive, judgemental, and able to seize fleeting opportunities, but unity is strength, and the military requires the individual to obey the collective, and the individual to sacrifice for the collective in the event of conflict. Both Yonoi and the Celliers have an unforgettable past, something they've always wanted to get rid of spiritually, their personal attachment and hatred to the collective
Yonoi and Lawrence had a conversation in front of the snow-white church. Lawrence likes snow in Japan. Snow can cover up a lot of unbearableness and reflect the pure spiritual beauty pursued by the Japanese. Yonoi looked back on the day of 226, when he was supposed to be one of the "pulled up" young army officers, his friends were shot after the failed mutiny, and he was sent to Manchuria three months before the mutiny, where he became a member of the collective. A live one. In the sense of Shintoism, he should not become a god, and he is spiritually dead, so he has been living in guilt. This is his obsession with the collective.
A conversation between Celliers and Lawrence, reminiscent of childhood. The younger brother has an angelic singing voice, and because of this, he was teased by other children, and he has been protecting his younger brother. Here is a conversation between the two brothers in the bedroom. The younger brother was crying all the time, and Celliers showed heroism as a child. The subtext is that the younger brother is too weak, and the older brother wants to make the younger brother stronger. Celliers allows his younger brother to be bullied in order to integrate himself into the group. This shot is beautifully composed, the contrast between the group and the individual, the noise and the loneliness. This was supposed to be a ceremony for becoming a man, but it became a ceremony for the castration of his younger brother's talent, and it also made Lawrence begin to hate the collective. He became a loner, a single-handed and desperate soldier in Libya and Java, earning the nickname "Strafer Jack". Lawrence said half-jokingly that he should join the French Foreign Legion. Just like the Japanese repeatedly asked Celliers if Celliers had a fake name in court, the Foreign Legion will give you a fake name on the day of service, which means saying goodbye to your old self, but that It is a goodbye in the social sense, and there is no escape from the inner devil. The reason why Celliers insists on using his real name is because he does not care about reconciliation with himself in the worldly sense, but more about real reconciliation and peace of mind.
Two people who are the same on the surface, one embraces the collective, the other wants to find themselves, and two people who are completely opposite cherish each other. This is also the collision of the different cores of Eastern and Western cultures.
Christianity and Shintoism
Compared with "The Bridge on the River Kwai", I prefer "Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence". Nagisa Oshima's ambition is bigger and more thorough, and it directly makes the Westerners and the Japanese collide on the cultural roots.
There are countless religious elements in this film. If you take out the OST and listen to it alone, every piece of music is very strange, like a strange religious experience, and the theme song "Forbidden colors" is basically a religious song.
The wounds on your hands never seem to heal
I thought all I need was to believe
Here am I, a life time away from you
The blood of Christ, or the beat of my heart.
This is Ryuichi Sakamoto's most famous song and one of the most covered songs in the world. Of course, you can understand it as a love song, but the lyrics tell you clearly: The wounds on your hands, The blood of Christ, This is a religious song! If you understand the Forbidden colors as the mutual sympathy between Christianity and Shintoism, it is not a bad idea. The piano with the crisp sound similar to the wooden fish is also a fusion of the two religious music. From a symbolic point of view, Celliers can be understood as the incarnation of Christ, and Yonoi can be understood as the "god" of Shintoism. Lawrence and the former military officer are the embodiment of God's will in the world.
As a straight man of steel, the last kiss in "Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence" has no meaning of love in my eyes. It seems to me that this is the kiss of Christ, kissing Yonoi's left and right cheeks is exactly what Jesus said: "If someone hits you on the right cheek, turn around and let him hit you". Christian tolerance is for the ultimate spiritual victory. From the perspective of Shintoism, this person was not afraid of death, and protected his comrades with his own death. Violence was so powerless in the face of weakness. This was the mental collapse of the Japanese, so Yonoi fainted.
Celliers was eventually buried alive. This method of burial is the hallmark of the Foreign Legion that Celliers would not join, meaning March or die. When the legion marched in North Africa, the soldiers who violated the military law were buried in the desert, a head was leaked, and then the large army continued to march, which was a long and lonely death. Funny that Celliers is not alone at all to die, there are wounded soldiers who sing Psalm 23
The LORD is my shepherd, and I shall not want.
He made me lie down in green pastures, and led me beside still waters.
He revives my soul and guides me in the path of righteousness for his name's sake.
Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for you are with me, and your rod and your rod comfort me.
You prepared a table for me in the presence of my enemies, you anointed my head with oil, and my cup overflowed.
Grace and mercy will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.
This is a farewell song, and of course, Jehovah can also be understood as Celliers. Yoyoi came to cut off a strand of hair and gave a solemn military salute. This strand of hair was enshrined in the shrine in his hometown. At this moment, a moth crawled over Celliers' head. From the perspective of Shintoism, this is his soul, the death of the body, the integration of the soul into nature, and the reconciliation between Christianity and Shintoism.
Finally, I have to complain about the acting skills of David Bowie and Ryuichi Sakamoto, which are far from my brother Wu in the cross talk society. The two of them worked from start to finish, all kinds of work, but they were rock stars, and it was enough for the rock stars to be handsome! Moreover, they are acting as gods, and the overall effect is actually quite good! It's so pretty that you can do whatever you want!
"things" in movies
On the whole, the lens language of "Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence" is very simple and restrained. The number of shots is small, the editing speed is slow, and many shots are very stable. Nagisa Oshima is very good at creating a sense of ritual through this technique. Not to mention the famous theme song "Forbidden color", which is basically a religious music. In addition, the props and sets in the movie are also extremely particular, and each piece can be called a "magic weapon". Several important scenes in the film take place in Yoyoi's office, which is minimally decorated and has only a handful of objects in the house. This so-called "frigid" style is the real fetish, and the real fetish is definitely this "family" style. The clutter produces fireworks, and the minimalism creates a sense of ritual.
"Eight Hong and One Universe" banner. This banner hangs in the most prominent position in Yono's office. This is the concept of the old Japanese national Shintoism, "Beyond Kyushu, there are eight lakes, which are a thousand miles away. Outside the eight lakes, there are eight ridges, which are also a thousand miles away, and cover eight cables." It means "the world is great." The slogan of the soldiers of the 226 Mutiny included the slogan, "Let the Japanese be gifted, and spread it all over the world." During World War II, "Eight Hiroichi Yu" has always been Japan's national motto. From this banner, we can see the sense of national superiority of Shi Yejing. He wants to defeat the British in spirit and realize the harmony of the world. At the same time, it also represents his past in the February 26 Incident. It was made under the banner of Yiyu", which cannot but be said to be an irony.
Samurai sword. The sword is the symbol of the Japanese nation and the most important prop in the film. The "knife" in Japanese actually refers to the blade. Just like people wear different clothes for different occasions, knives also have different knife outfits. Usually, the samurai will put the knife in the white sheath of Pumu and put it on the shelf. One is to protect the knife, and the other is to be in a relaxed state like people wearing pajamas at home, representing spiritual relaxation. In the film, Yonoi has only two swords, the saber and the blade. In several scenes of Yoyoi in the office, only one blade is placed on the shelf, but when Kitano Takeshi was in the office, the knife was a saber. If the sword symbolizes the spirit of the Japanese, the sword is the naked spirit of Yonoi facing the Celliers, which is more fragrant than the nakedness of the body.
Kendo Hall. In addition to the office, most of the conversations between Lawrence and Yonoi took place in the Kendo Hall, which was renovated from a snow-white Catholic church, where the Japanese soldier's overcoming ceremony was also held. It also expresses the meaning of great harmony in the world, and it also means that the Japanese must overcome the strong will of the Westerners in spirit.
Tobacco and alcohol. Tobacco and alcohol both represent physical pleasures. Shinoi smokes and the former military officer drinks. These are the few hobbies of the two that can be called physical pleasures. Shinoi's restraint in smoking, he has to worship the emperor every time he smokes, and the former military commander claims to be able to "get drunk" all the time, which is restraint and obsession with pleasure. After the former army officer released Lawrence and Celliers, Yonoi shut him up and told him not to drink alcohol, but handed him a cigarette. A close-up shot of the cigarette was printed with chrysanthemum. This is a cigarette bestowed by the emperor. A reward in the Shinto sense.
uniform. There is no more important props than military uniforms in war films. The choice of military uniforms does not seem to be much, but there are many things in the film. All officers at the military court except Yonoi wore tropical uniforms with their shirt collars turned up, a common practice to protect the collars of outer garments from fraying, but not in compliance with military regulations. Only Yoyoi wore a full woolen 98-style military uniform, implying that he was the only one who didn't take the trial as a child's play. The shirts of the Japanese soldiers in the whole film have never been dried, and they are always soaked in sweat, while Yonoi's uniforms have always been straight, which is also a symbol of his strong spirit. The British dress is more interesting, and it is understandable that the clothes are ragged in the prisoner of war camp. The British colonel wears a full tropical uniform, two tops and shorts for the lower body. He is also the only British officer who wears shorts, which is in stark contrast to Yonoi's shiny riding boots, implying that he is not mentally equal to Yonoi's. . Celliers' dress is simple and casual, but also meticulous. All the British soldiers wear khaki. Only he wears olive green. He also wears the best pair of ammo boots in the camp. He always wears a scarf and wears a ceremonial Australian ring. The side hat, the appearance is not inferior to Yonoi. Just as Yonoi took the British seriously, he also took the Japanese seriously.
Persian blanket. Yonoi gave Celliers a Persian blanket, which is a good thing in any age! Celliers stunned his orderly with it, then kissed the blanket, which he didn't throw away as he fled with Lawrence. Everything in the film is hard, the rough sand, the scorching sun, the musty British marching mattress, the Japanese barefooted on the barbed wooden floor in the kendo hall, this blanket is the only soft The color of carnal pleasure symbolizes restrained sensuality. But Persian blankets are also easily reminiscent of Muslim prayers, and they are also religious.
Beads and Bracers. In my mind, this is the most wonderful film by Wu Ge, who doesn't talk much. Social martial arts hold a knife in one hand and a stick in the other. The knife is ready to be borrowed from the Japanese at any time, and the stick is ready to slash the British, especially Lawrence. Isn't this the incarnation of "fascism"! Such a person has a string of Buddhist beads around his neck forever, saved Lawrence and Celliers on Christmas Eve, and is also known as Santa Claus. He understands that "saving one life is better than building a seven-level pagoda" can also make mistakes, and neither worships Bodhisattva nor rejects Christianity, so twice "Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence" should be said from his mouth, this is " The Eight Heavens and One Universe", the Great Harmony of the World.
other
In fact, there is still a lot that can be said, such as the views of Lawrence and my brother Wu in the society, Xia Keshang in the movie, Buddhism and Shintoism, Yonoi and Mishima Yukio, etc. It’s really lazy, let’s have a chance to chat
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