Biruma no tategoto (1956)

User Rating:

8.1/10   

Director:

Kon Ichikawa

Writers:

Michio Takeyama (novel)
Natto Wada (writer)

Release Date:

28 April 1967 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Music | War

Plot:

In the War's closing days, when a conscience-driven Japanese soldier fails to get his countrymen to surrender to overwhelming force, he adopts the lifestyle of a Buddhist monk.

Plot Keywords:

Japanese | Buddhist | Surrender | Soldier | Dead

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 3 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

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

Also Known As:

Harp of Burma
The Burmese Harp (USA)

Runtime:

116 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese | English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Argentina:13 | Finland:K-12

Filming Locations:

Burma

Company:

Nikkatsu

Trivia:

The film was originally slated to shoot in three-strip color, but director Kon Ichikawa worried that the huge camera might break down on location and he would not be able to have it fixed, so he shot in black-and-white.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: The 'British' officer in charge of the funerary cremation repository speaks with a decidedly Australian, not British, accent.

Quotes:

Subtitles: [Last lines] The soil of Burma is red, and so are its rocks!

Movie Connections:

Remade as Biruma no tategoto (1985)

Soundtrack:

Hanyuu no Yado

Transformed

Very poignant anti-war statement, supported with passionate music and photography. A Japanese POW at the end of the war is separated from his comrades when he tries to coax some hold-outs to surrender. After disastrous results, he disguises as a Buddhist monk and is considered dead, wandering the countryside and continually confronted with the truly dead. His friends suspect he has survived and are disconsolate unless reunited with him. But before he can rejoin them, his journey gradually and painfully transforms him. He has a new mission and a new identity, his spiritual garb no longer a mere disguise.