Biruma no tategoto (1956)

Note des utilisateurs:

8.1/10   

Réalisateur:

Kon Ichikawa

Writers:

Michio Takeyama (novel)
Natto Wada (writer)

Release Date:

28 avril 1967 (USA)

Genre:

Drame | Fantasy | History | 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

Avis des utilisateurs:

A universal testament to the horror of war

Ensemble

Rentaro 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
Yoshiaki Kato	...	Matsuda
Masahiko Naruse	...	Soldier
Bin Moritsuka	...	Soldier
Sojiro Amano	...	Soldier
Yôji Nagahama	...	Boy
Kunitaro Sawamura	...	Old man
Eiji Nakamura	...	Old monk
Asao Sano	...	Soldier
Shojiro Ogasawara	...	Soldier
Tanie Kitabayashi	...	Old woman
Tatsuya Mihashi	...	Defense Commander
Yûnosuke Itô	...	Village head
reste de la distribution par ordre alphabétique:
Akiyoshi Fukae	...	Soldier

Réalisé par
Kon Ichikawa

Scénaristes (in alphabetical order)
Michio Takeyama		novel
Natto Wada		writer

Produit par
Masayuki Takaki	....	producer

Musique originale
Akira Ifukube

Image
Minoru Yokoyama

Montage
Masanori Tsujii

Création des décors
So Matsuyama

Technicien du son
Masakazu Kamiya	....	sound recordist

Camera and Electrical Department
Ko Fujibayashi	....	gaffer

Production Companies

• Nikkatsu

Distributors

• Contemporary Films (1960) (UK) (theatrical)
• Brandon Films (1967) (USA) (all media) (subtitled)
• Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) (1975) (USA) (TV)
• Criterion Collection, The (2007) (USA) (DVD)
• Criterion Collection, The (laserdisc)

Autre(s) titre(s):

Harp of Burma
The Burmese Harp (USA)
La harpe de Birmanie (France) [fr]

Durée:

116 min

Pays:

Japan

Langue:

Japonais | Anglais

Couleur:

Noir et Blanc

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Son:

Mono

Classification:

Argentina:13 | Finland:K-12

Emplacements De Pelliculage:

Burma

Company:

Nikkatsu

Anecdotes:

Kon Ichikawa said the original novel was treated as a fantasy, but he chose to eliminate that aspect of the story.

Goofs:

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

Guillemet:

Mizushima: [to his parrot] Let's return to Japan together.

Movie Connections:

Remade as Biruma no tategoto (1985)

Soundtrack:

Hanyuu no Yado

A universal testament to the horror of war

Based on a novel by Michio Takeyama, The Burmese Harp was the first film that brought director Kon Ichikawa to international attention. It is the story of Mizushima (Shoji Yasui) a Japanese soldier in Burma at the close of World War Two who is sent on a mission by his Captain to inform another unit of the Japanese surrender and to convince them to stop fighting. When the unit refuses to give up and are destroyed by the British Army, only Mizushima remains alive and must come to terms with his nation's defeat. Pretending to be a Buddhist monk, he undergoes a religious conversion when he comes face to face with the staggering amount of death and destruction he sees as he travels across the region in search of his unit. Determined to honor and bury the dead, Mizushima is conflicted about remaining in Burma to live a life of service or returning to Japan to help rebuild his own country.

The film takes its name from a Burmese harp acquired by Mizushima. He has become an expert harpist and plays while the soldiers sing beautiful chorales with a sound so lush it feels as if it is coming from the Mormon Tabernacle. While the depiction of the soldiers may be idealized, The Burmese Harp transcends its limitations to become a universal testament not only to the madness that prevailed in Burma, but to the unspeakable horror of all war. Ichikawa, in spite of the fact that film became a classic, loved the story so much that he filmed it again in 1985.