MERRY CHRISTMAS, MR. LAWRENCE 233
Auckland Railway Station, doubling for a station in Batavia ( Jakarta); and at Mount
Eden Prison, Auckland, representing Hara’s prison in 1946.
Plot Summary
The film deals with the complex relationships among four men in a WWII Japa-
nese POW camp, two Allied and two Japa nese soldiers: Major Jack Celliers (David
Bowie), a rebellious South African harboring a guilty secret; Captain Yonoi (Ryuichi
Sakamoto), the young camp commandant; Lt. Col. John Lawrence (Tom Conti), a
British officer who has lived in Japan and speaks fluent Japa nese; and Sgt. Hara
(Takeshi Kitano), a brutal but principled noncommissioned officer with whom Law-
rence strikes up a friendship. Celliers suffers from guilt for having betrayed his
younger brother while both were attending boarding school in South Africa. Con-
versely, Yonoi feels an overwhelming sense of shame. Having been posted to Man-
churia, he was unable to be in Tokyo when his Army comrades, the “Shining Young
Officers,” staged a military coup d’état in 1936 (i.e., the “February 26 Incident”).
When the coup failed, Yonoi’s comrades were all executed, and Yonoi feels ill at
ease with his own survival. Although Celliers confesses his guilty secret only to
Lawrence, Capt. Yonoi senses that Celliers is a kindred spirit. Yonoi develops a
homoerotic fixation with him and wants to replace British RAAF Group Capt. Hick-
sley ( Jack Thompson) with Celliers as the prisoners’ advocate. Celliers, nicknamed
“Strafer” Jack for his grit, instigates acts of re sis tance. Yonoi’s batman (personal
servant) tries to eliminate Celliers, thinking him to be a terrible influence on Yonoi,
but Celliers evades him and escapes. As Celliers attempts to rescue Lawrence, Yonoi
intervenes, challenging Celliers to single combat and promising to free him if he
wins, but Celliers refuses to fight. Yonoi’s disgraced batman then commits sep-
puku (ritual suicide). Soon thereafter the Japa nese uncover a radio in the posses-
sion of the POWs. Celliers and Lawrence are forced to take the blame and are
marked for execution. During Christmas Eve 1942, an inebriated Sgt. Hara calls
for Celliers and Lawrence and, to their surprise, releases the two men. Yonoi is
shocked that Sgt. Hara has released both Celliers and Lawrence from their hold-
ing cells but only mildly reprimands him for exceeding his authority and has him
redeployed. Hicksley demands an explanation. Furious that Hicksley has pressed
him for an answer, Yonoi has the whole camp put on parade— all POWs, including
the sick and wounded, are ordered to form lines outside their barracks. Capt. Yonoi
then singles out Hicksley for execution by beheading. Breaking ranks, Celliers
calmly walks up and places himself between Yonoi and Hicksley. Yonoi angrily
shoves him aside, but Celliers gets up and impassively kisses Yonoi on each
cheek. Mortified by an act that so deeply offends his bushido honor code, Yonoi
reaches out for his katana against Celliers but collapses in an onrush of conflicted
feelings: angry frustration, embarrassment, and his unacknowledged love for Cel-
liers. Capt. Yonoi’s soldiers immediately take over, beating and stomping Celliers for
his insolence. Now compromised, Yonoi is slated for redeployment. His successor
(Hideo Murota) punishes Celliers by having him buried in the ground up to his
neck and left to die. When they are alone, Yonoi extracts a lock of Celliers’ hair
as a memento. Celliers dies soon after. In 1946, Lawrence visits Sgt. Hara, now