  merry christmas, mr. lawrence (japanese: , also known in many european editions as furyo (ä¿è, japanese for "prisoner of war")) is a 1983 japanese-british film directed by nagisa oshima, produced by jeremy thomas and starring david bowie, tom conti, ryuichi sakamoto, takeshi kitano and jack thompson. it was written by oshima and paul mayersberg and based on sir laurens van der post's experiences as a japanese prisoner of war during world war ii as depicted in his works the seed and the sower (1963) and the night of the new moon (1970). sakamoto also wrote the score and the vocal theme "forbidden colours", featuring david sylvian, which was a hit single in many territories. the film was entered into the 1983 cannes film festival in competition for the palme d'or. sakamoto's score also won the film a bafta award for best film music. ==plot== the film deals with the relationships among four men in a japanese prisoner of war camp during the second world war &mdash; major jack celliers, a rebellious prisoner with a guilty secret from his youth; captain yonoi, the young camp commandant; lieutenant colonel john lawrence (conti), a british officer who has lived in japan and speaks japanese fluently; and sergeant hara who is seemingly brutal and yet humane in some ways and with whom lawrence de
1983_films British_Christmas_films British_films British_war_drama_films Films_directed_by_Nagisa_Oshima Films_set_in_Indonesia Films_shot_in_the_Cook_Islands Japanese-language_films Japanese_Christmas_films Japanese_drama_films Japanese_films Japanese_war_films Pacific_War_films Ryuichi_Sakamoto_albums World_War_II_prisoner_of_war_films