Curapedi I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

TrueHello Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

InformationRap This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Guillelmina The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

aruzhanmeirkhanova A well-known Japanese director Kon Ichikawa, in his masterpiece "The Burmese Harp", reveals how small groups of Japanese soldiers reacted to the end of the World War II. The off-screen voice, which belongs to one of these soldiers, narrates how he alongside his comrades had to face difficulties not only on the battlefield, but also after the War had come to an end. Hoping to return to Japan and "rebuild" it, his group surrenders to the British, while the other one refuses to do so. All of the attempts to persuade this second group were in vain for the soldier Mizushima, the main hero of the movie, who could skilfully play the harp and accompanied the songs of his fellowmen. In half an hour, British bombarded the non-surrendering Japanese troops, whereas Mizushima managed to survive. Although he seemed to have got lost and the evidence pointed to his death, his comrades didn't abandon the attempts to find him. When they finally managed to do so, they discovered that while feeling guilt for his failure to prevent the death of the soldiers, Mizushima becomes a monk and decides not to return to Japan unless the bodies of his countrymen are scattered in Burma. This movie should be viewed as more than simply a narrative about the desperate monk and the soldiers, who had to cope with the consequences of the World War II. Each character and each scene symbolizes the Japanese view on their nation during this significant historical event. For instance, the group of Mizushima is portrayed as it had to surrender, but nonetheless had a great goal to come back to Japan and "rebuild" the motherland. The group of soldiers expressed its patriotism even more explicitly, by refusing to give up and preferring death for the sake of Japan. Such elements of the movie are particularly important in a way that each of the two groups of soldiers seems to represent the Japanese spirit and a strong sense of the national identity.A harp being another central element of this film seems to serve several functions. It is an instrument, which during the most difficult moments of war acted as a therapy, raising the spirits of the fighters. Moreover, it is a tool and language of communication, which sends different signals to the soldiers and is difficult to understand by the outsiders. It is also a distinctive feature of Mizushima, by which his comrades managed to distinguish him while being in search. And the way in which it is depicted in the movie makes it not a less significant hero than Mizushima.The role of Buddhism in this movie, however is more implicit. One might get an impression that a few references of the words "Buddha" and "sutra" makes the Buddhist context less significant, while the temples and statues, shown in the movie have a decorative function. Yet, such conclusions might be misleading. Although they contain partial truth, and even Mizushima as a monk, has little to do with the commonly accepted characteristics of monks, other than his appearance, the most important message of the movie still coincides with the Buddhist understanding of the world. In one of the final scenes, when the Captain is reading the letter of Mizushima, the Buddhist observer can easily identify the First Noble Truth that "life is suffering". This truth concerns not only the life of Mizushima, but all of the people who witnessed the war. It is definitely true that Mizushima's decision to remain in Burma was motivated by the self-imposed duty to bury his dead countrymen in an appropriate way, which in its turn is a deal of honour. Yet, it is also probable that the internalization of the Buddhist ideas influenced his decision to adhere to the monastic way of life. For these reasons, it would be incorrect to undervalue the role of Buddhism in this movie.Mizushima, being the central character of the movie, is worth being noted separately. He is the embodiment of the true Japanese soldier, an impression that comes to mind first while watching the movie. This is a complex character, who experiences an internal struggle and dilemma regarding his comrades. Although it seemed rational to come back home, his devotion to his fellowmen and his honour prevented him from returning to Japan. His even more serious decision to devote his life to the Dharma, Buddha and the Sangha make his heroic image even more appealing. In general, the fact that it was the mid-20th century product does not make its quality less worth-praising. Most probably, this is due to the realistic delivery of the atmosphere of the War period and the actors, most of whom, had undergone these times themselves. The efforts put by the movie crew seem to have been justified, due to the worldwide recognition and mainly a positive reception of the film. After all, this is an exceptional drama, with a breath-taking plot and full of different ideas that give a spectator some "food for thought".

karmaswimswami "The Burmese Harp" meditates brilliantly on comradeship, killing, surcease from killing, guilt, remorse and reverence for the dead. From early in his career, this supple and nuanced story discloses Ichikawa to have a subtle mind that operated on many levels. Ichikawa's outsize talent would soon be declared in full force by "Fires on the Plain." This film broods on horror that one man tries to stop, and cannot, and spends the rest of his life in penance for. The story arc celebrates Buddhist thinking, and has such universal themes of guilt, commitment, personal accountability, isolation and shame that it could be transposed well to another place and time. Ichikawa's film occasionally tear-jerks, and some of the musical digressions could be trimmed, but "The Burmese Harp" is anchored by a deft human touch and a pervasive sense of ethnicity-transcending universality. Minoru Yokoyama, the cinematographer, has lovingly lensed this film with an attitude of creating iconography, which he has. Shoji Yasui's performance as Mizushima is one in which muses ever sing.

lreynaert In this masterful antiwar movie Kon Ichikawa uses the big emotional impact of music and singing. It goes straight to the heart of the spectator.The soil of Burma is red with blood of fallen Japanese soldiers. Nobody is there to bury their corpses decently, until one soldier, disguised as a Buddhist monk, takes the herculean task on his shoulders. Kon Ishikawa asks in his movie: 'why must the world suffer such misery?' But, the example of one soldier who survived the onslaught, gives the devastated world a glimmer of hope. Indeed, 'our work is simply to ease the great suffering of the world.'In one of the extras, the actor Rentano Mikuni reveals that bayonet drills in the Japanese army were 'performed' on living prisoners of war! This movie is a real masterpiece. A must see, also the extras.

Cosmoeticadotcom While a bit sentimental, it never veers into mawkishness, and the full five or so minute reading is one of the great humanist documents in cinema, perhaps even greater than Charlie Chaplin's speech at the end of The Great Dictator. Mizushima claims his new mission in life is monkdom, and helping to bury the war dead, and promote peace in the world. The film then makes an interesting decision, and one virtually uncommented on in any of the criticism of it I've read. After the letter is read, the film's narration (which opens the film, and is rather sparse) begins again. All along, viewers have been led to believe- via closeups of the captain's face during other narrations, that it is he who has been telling this film's story from some indefinite time in the future. But, no; the speaker, as the camera move sin, turns out to be a wholly anonymous member of the unit; one who had no prior scenes nor close-ups.Imagine, as example, had Herman Melville's novel Moby-Dick, not opened with Call me Ishmael, and the reader only found out who the narrator was on the last page, and had to guess if the narrator was omniscient, or a member of the Pequod, only to be startled their guess was wrong. The reason this is so important, looking back at the film, is that a) the point of view change from the expected narrator to another recapitulates the confusion that the troop has over whether or not the monk they see is their comrade- thus letting the viewer 'feel' the confusion that the internal characters are feeling- albeit for a different reason, b) it makes the viewer question whether or not what has been shown is true or not, since we now know the narrator is not the reliable and honorable captain- a character we would trust as reliable. This ties the whole film back to the more fairy tale like quality of the source novel. The final reason, c), it forces the viewer to wonder whether or not he or she has assumed other things that were not so in the narrative, even if one accepts that all the anonymous private has revealed is true.This is an astonishingly effective device that Ichikawa employs, and coming on the heels of the straightforward and moving missive revelation by Mizushima, the audacity of Ichikawa's narrative sleight of hand erases any doubts over whether this film is great or not. It is as great a film as his later Fires On The Plain, which, narratively and tonally, is almost the complete opposite of this film. But, the fact that such a key element in the film has never been commented upon before shows how little most critics actually pay attention to the subjects they criticize, as well as how little they understand how even a small moment, or the slight use of a technique, can radically change the whole tenor of a work of art. This is too often because the critics approach art with their own biases in tow, rather than viewing the work on its own merits. Another moment that has gone critically unnoticed is the scene on the bridge, between Mizushima (dressed as a monk) and his troop. This occurs two times. The first time, the viewer is as confused as the soldiers are, but the second time, the narrator tells the audience it was definitely Mizushima. Thus, we know that Mizushima's ruse will be found out, and this diverts the narrative tension from will the soldiers learn the truth of Mizushima? to how will they learn it, and will they learn why? This is not an insignificant narrative change of direction, but one, again, which never seems to have stirred critics.The DVD, put out by The Criterion Collection, is well transferred- the black and white hues are brilliant. However, the DVD lacks an audio commentary- an increasing annoyance with Criterion releases ever since they went to their new C logo. There are too all too brief interviews with Ichikawa and Renataro Mikuni, who played the captain. There is a trailer, and only subtitles, again in white- another bête noir of Criterion, for white subtitles often are lost against the whites of a black and white film. Colored subtitles are a must if no English dubbed soundtrack is to be added. The insert contains an essay on the film by film critic Tony Rayns, but it's a rather pedestrian take on the subject. Akira Ifukube's score is solid; the only real highlights are the delightful harp playing by Mizushima.Overall, The Burmese Harp is a great film. It is not one of those razzle-dazzle works of art that is flashy, but it gets the job done, and invites rewatchings to elicit subtleties one viewing may miss. It also kills the old notion that all war films- even those with explicitly anti-war themes- end up celebrating war because of the battle scenes and those scenes which show individual valor. Both this film and Fires On The Plain kill that notion; the former by eliding almost all scenes of battle, and the latter by the sheer devastation of the results of war it shows. It certainly deserved its nomination for an Academy Award as best Foreign Film, as well as numerous other festival awards. Ichikawa's reputation is that of a serviceable studio director, and that may be true; but the two films of his I've seen are the equals of the best films made by the titanic Japanese triumvirate of Yasujiro Ozu, Akira Kurosawa, and Kenji Mizoguchi. Here's hoping he has a few more deviations from that norm others claim for him.