The Burmese Harp

Ichikawa's great anti-war film, about a Japanese soldier (Shoji Yasui) in Burma masquerading as a monk and falling into grace. [21 Nov 2008, p.C5]

Kon Ichikawa's 1956 epic about Japan's surrender in World War II is a haunting elegy on the theme of defeat, an achievement fully meriting this high-definition transfer, and essential for war-film devotees. [28 Aug 2010, p.7]

A haunting, elegaic reverie of a movie; its opening battle scenes recalling John Ford’s cavalry westerns.

Ichikawa Kon’s 1956 film The Burmese Harp is a tender almost-musical film about the horrors of war and the obliteration of identity.

If the film was clearly a sincere castigation of the militarist fervour that swept Japan during the war, it nevertheless suffers from its rather deliberate heart-warming tone and a too leisurely pace that tends to over-emphasise moments of pathos. That said, it is hard not to be swayed by the pacifist sentiments.

This poetically photographed Japanese drama is an earnest but extremely circuitous and overstated antiwar film. It moves like a figure 8, making its point at the middle, then looping around for a second, none-too-convincing hour.

Kon Ichikawa’s 1956 antiwar film was widely hailed at the time of its release for its power and commitment, though by today’s standards it’s likely to appear uncomfortably didactic.