I found this Japanese film in the 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die book, I was hoping it would be another foreign film I would never have found otherwise and was enjoyable, directed by Kon Ichikawa (An Actor's Revenge, Tokyo Olympiad). Basically, set during the Second World War, Japanese soldier Private Mizushima (Shôji Yasui) is the harp player in a group composed by Captain Inouye (Rentarô Mikuni) who raise morale for the Burma Campaign by fighting and singing. They are offering shelter in a village, eventually realising that British soldiers are watching them, with their ammunition retrieved and the forces advancing, Captain Inouye tells the men to sing, laugh and clap to trick the British into believing they are unaware of their presence, the British soldiers do not fire, they sing along, the war has ended, and the Japanese surrender to the British. As Australian captain at a camp asks Mizushima to talk down a group of soldiers still fighting on a mountain, he agrees and has 30 minutes to convince them to surrender, he is almost shot by them before they realise he is Japanese, he climbs up and informs the Defense Commander (Tatsuya Mihashi) the war is over and to surrender. But after conferring with their commander, they decide to fight to the end, even after Mizushima begs them, he asks the Australians for more time, but him creating a surrender flag is taken the wrong way and they believe he is surrendering for them, he is beaten unconscious and left on the floor, he is the only survivor following a bombardment. An Old Monk (Eiji Nakamura) helps Mizushima to recovering from his injuries, one day he steals the monk's robe and shaves his head so he will not be spotted by a soldier, he journeys to the camp where his comrades were sent, but he finds many Japanese soldiers dead on the way, he buries them. Captain Inouye and his men cling on to the belief that Mizushima is still alive, eventually the buy a parrot to speak a phrase with Mizushima's name, and an Old Woman villager (Tanie Kitabayashi) takes it to a monk they suspect is actually Mizushima in hiding, she returns with another parrot with a reply rejection phrase. The old woman also gives the captain a letter, saying that Mizushima has decided not to go back with them to Japan, because he continues to bury the dead, while studying as a monk and promoting the peaceful nature of mankind, but he states when he has finished burying the fallen soldiers, he may return to Japan. Also starring Yûnosuke Itô as Village head. I was just about able to follow the story, about the young musician/harpist renouncing his homeland to remain in Burma as a Buddhist monk during World War II, sincerity does occasionally turn into sentimentality, but there are good military and musical scenes, and more than anything this epic film has great landscapes that accompany the great music, an interesting war drama. It was nominated the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. Very good!
Review of The Burmese Harp
