"The Burmese Harp" a film

"The Burmese Harp" a film by Kon Ichikawa, produced in 1956. Recently re-released. Glorious Black and White photography, and beautiful music.

A Japanese platoon, in Burma at the end of WWII, find themselves in the Mudon prison camp awaiting their return to their homeland. Self taught lute player, Mizushima, is sent by the British Army to convince a group of Japanese soldiers, "holed up" in a cave, to surrender. They believe that he is a traitor, a coward, and refuse to heed his warnings. The British follow through with force, the only survivor, as luck would have it, is Mizushima. As he attempts to return to Mudon, he comes upon so many of his fallen Japanese comrades that have perished and are left lying where they died. He is so moved by this, that he decides to become a Buddhist priest, even as his platoon hopes for his return.

This is a Long movie, and just having seen several Akira Kurosawa films, I was concerned that it was going to be another "downer" of a story, but this was a movie so thoroughly enjoyed by James and me. You will need about 2 solid hours of your time to view it, but please consider this film........

If I were going to give it a star rating, it would be a 5 star rating......