Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence
(DVD) 

Based on the novel "The seed and the sower" by Sir Laurens Van der Post.

Originally produced as a motion picture in 1983.

Director of photography, Toichiro Narushima ; production designer, Jusho Toda ; music, Ryuichi Sakamoto ; editor, Tomoyo Oshima ; interpreter, Didi Dickson.

David Bowie (Celliers), Tom Conti (Lawrence), Ryuichi Sakamoto (Yonoi), Takeshi [Kitano] (Hara), Jack Thompson (Hicksley).

"In a Japanese prison camp on Java in 1942, two British officers, John Lawrence and Jack Celliers, encounter camp commander Yonoi and his sergeant Hara. Things had been going pretty well, until charismatic, rebellious Celliers arrived. Yonoi is a devotee of the samurai ideal; neither he nor Hara can understand the stoic way in which the British prisoners accept their situation of defeat. Lawrence speaks Japanese, and ceaselessly tries to mediate between the prisoners and their overseers, translating both the words and the values of the two races. Celliers' attitude, however, is more comprehensible to Yonoi. He and Celliers arrive at a sort of détente, based on an admiration for the other, but this eventually turns into a contest of wills as the camp's carefully nurtured equilibrium is destroyed." --,(Source of summary not specified)

DVD; Region 1, NTSC; Dolby digital surround 2.0 stereo; widescreen presentation, preserving the 1.78:1 aspect ratio of the original theatrical exhibition, enhanced for 16:9 televisions.

In English and Japanese with optional subtitles in English.