nm5500: now the issue about appearing in this in your lives video presentations 
and all sorts will figure prominently as the technology develops they will 
alter and you need to know how you look how you perform even if it's for a 
minute or two and from that we'll learn this is an equivalent of a screen test 
for some of you and how your face as you notice from recordings you sound very 
differently in a recording than you do or think you do similarly visually 
you'll learn how to do this and it'll be part of what kind of photographs you 
take of yourselves to put on your C-Vs promotional materials you'll learn all 
those sorts of things so you must be visually literate and this is a way of 
becoming visually literate because all of a sudden it's more serious than snaps 
from mother at home so this is a so this is a chance so i really strongly 
recommend you to sign up for the whole exercise and see what comes from it for 
your benefit more than anybody else's the fact that foreign students benefit 
it's really a nice thing but also for you okay good now today you know as we 
have a double double bill er not so much pro and con but one kind of analysis 
followed by another and this is a chance for you to talk if you're a little bit 
nervous remember what it's like to overcome the nervousness the same sort of 
thing that's standing up in front of you a camera's watching is just another 
pair of eyes breathe deeply speak slowly be yourselves it'll be wonderful and 
finally footnote we have seen the essays and by and large they are super so i'm 
very very pleased with your results some of you have done simply outstanding 
and almost everyone has done very well so er on that cheerful positive note 
smile for the camera alright please first we're going to begin with the topic 
Merry Christmas, Mr Lawrence group A Anglo-Japan relations in the film you have 
a slightly shorter than thirty minutes to entertain us and then we'll hand over 
to war crime and war responsibility and afterwards summary and conclusion we 
need some more chairs or are we going to stand my goodness looks like a group 
of singers doesn't it alright who's leading off 
sm5501: we start don't we
sm5502: yeah you
sf5503: er Merry Christmas, Mr Lawrence was the 1983 adaptation of er the South 
African writer Laurens Van der Post's er book The Seed and The Sower the 
director Nagisa Oshima is also known for directing in the Empire of the Senses 
which was er based on a true story of an event which happened in the 1930's in 
Japan er that's that's probably the most famous of his other works aside from 
this film er the film contains many themes one of which is that of equilibrium 
reached and destroyed there seems to be a sort of uneasy contentment i i 
hesitate to use the word contentment er a sort of uneasy resignation to the 
situation reached in the camp where the prisoners and the overseers find a 
position where they can get used to the very unnatural position of being 
prisoners and overseers in a in a prisoner of war camp er although it wasn't an 
optimal situation it was vaguely liveable however when the character er of 
Major Jack Celliers who is the character played by David Bowie er is captured 
and brought to the camp this equi this equilibrium is destroyed which has 
severe repercussions upon the conditions of the camp er both physically and 
mentally for both prisoners and the overseers
sm5501: another theme is that of cultural misunderstanding so you've got two 
very different cultures there's Western and Eastern cultures and they're so 
vastly different they're the most extreme different differences in culture are 
are witnessed here and it's enhanced by the language barrier obviously er 
Western English and then the Eastern language of Japanese that are two very 
different languages and you can't possible translate all of the idiomatic 
phrases and basically that the way that Japanese people tell stories even and 
how they communicate's just so different with er th the way er Western people 
do that one of the Japanese officers David Bowie er in interprets the apparent 
indifference to his own fate as an example of the samurai-like morals the 
morals that er Japanese warriors the samurais had at that time since he might 
not have had a great deal of experience with Western culture previously he 
can't construct an accurate frame of reference to which to interpret his 
behaviour despite this the efforts to demonstrate the understanding on both 
sides of the cultural divide especially through Tom Conti's character and 
Captain jono-, Yonoi show that even in a situation of war hostility is not a 
necessity
sm5502: right er and i'm now going to talk a bit about the background the 
historical background to help you er understand more er the international 
perception of Japan in the years leading up to er Pearl Harbour so er and then 
the er subse subsequent er things that happened and what happens in the film as 
well so we'll begin we all know about the Meiji Restoration which is was er the 
period where the last of the Tokugawa supporters were defeated and the Emperor 
er came back as a symbol of a new era of unity and and progress er and so Japan 
er invited er the international community er to help them achieve this goal er 
to to er create a modern er a modern er nation so the French officers came in 
to remodel the army British British of course came in to er remodel the navy 
and the Dutch as well came in to supervise the construction in the islands 
surrounding Japan and so within a few decades railways telephones modern 
banking and postal systems were introduced er and all of this er was a a great 
achievement for Japan but it also was the starting point for Japan's entry into 
World War Two because er a consequence of this was the emergence of nationalism 
a force which was also emerging in in Europe at the same time and er so these 
very Shinto principles er show that people who are united under a common goal 
can achieve almost anything so er the empire embarked on an aggressive foreign 
policy because Japan at that time believed that the only time to show the world 
that it was a true er world class power was through imperialism and Japan 
believed that at this time Russia was er the main threat in the region because 
Russia was considered one of the er five main powers in Europe and er in order 
to achieve an equilibrium er between Japan and er Russia Japan turned towards 
Korea and the Korean peninsula and attempted through political means to force 
Korea to accept er Japanese military presence military presence which caused a 
war with China in 1985 19 1895 er the Chinese were of course very swiftly 
defeated er crushed by the modern military er the new military power Japan er 
which showed the world for the first time since the Meiji Restoration er that 
Japan er was able to was an able nation against every anybody er and through 
this Japan gained territory er in Taiwan and Western powers for the first time 
as i said er saw Japan as a threat er now and af after this Ja Japan was not 
able to gain Korea but they still wanted to gain power in that region in order 
to create as i said that eq equilibrium and er after ten years of preparation 
er they er had a surprise attack on Russia er a war which i might add was 
heavily financed by the UK and the US er which shows that er the UK and the US 
wanted to remain Allies with Japan perhaps because of er of of the increase in 
in military and er industrial power so er after er Russia er was swiftly also 
defeated in a very bloody war but this er defeat er was a heavy blow not only 
for Russia but for the rest of Europe because er for the first time in modern 
times an Eastern nation managed to defeat a Western nation so er Japan 
continued their imperial policies er which resulted in a the capture of 
Manchuria er and er the the subsequent war with China er which er very much 
isolated Japan from the rest of the world Japan and Japan was now labelled as 
an aggressor and very soon er pacts were created between Italy and Germany and 
Japan so the access er was created and this is what er in the end resulted in 
the attack at Pearl Harbour and i think Warren is going to talk now about the 
er events in the film which happened because of Pearl Harbour 
sm5504: er yeah well er er going back to the film and er to elaborate er 
further on what er my my colleagues on the far right have already said er that 
it was that it's a movie of contrasts and that er it's also a movie that speaks 
in images and not only is it on a got well giving examples was er when er Major 
said he was eating the flowers i am not sure what it symbolises but it looks 
pretty you know deep and meaningful and all that er and er also er cutting the 
cutting his hair off just before he was going to die er by er the head of the 
of the camp and it's er to me it's er extre-, set in extreme conditions er and 
on a er superficial level er it's a charged atmosphere because here you have 
prisoners and their captors and they're treating each other bad-, badly because 
of the war and some of them necessarily have that feeling of contempt for for 
each each other's respective sides and of course you never forget that it's you 
know that there's still a war going on outside of the camp and that it's a 
prisoner of war and they're being treated as such or if not even worse worse so 
er but er having said that er they still have er on an individual level they 
have that sort of mutual respect for each other i mean to i mean a clear 
example is that between er Sergeant H Hara and er Major Jack himself were er i 
believe in one scene they were in the in the dead of night and they were er in 
the pr in er the prisoner's barracks and they were just sat down and they just 
basically talked about well what they were talking about wasn't really 
important but the fact of the matter was that er they had a dialogue that they 
had mutual understanding a mutual respect for each other and er at that time 
you sort for a brief moment you sort of forgot that they were you know this 
idea of prisoner and captor that they were just being treated equally and have 
again shown this mutual respect er and perhaps er the guards favoured more 
towards Lawrence because he had this sort of understanding of Japanese he you 
know he already spoke spoke Japanese at quite quite a fluent level and so they 
could relate to him more and perhaps to a certain extent he has an 
understanding of the Japanese mentality and er way of thinking er of course 
this this mutual respect only happens on a one to one level er in another 
example er Hara although we later on see that he is a good man you know when 
he's drunk and er gets er Major Celliers and er Lawrence free from getting 
killed he you know he was happy he was you know it showed a human side of him 
but essentially he was working in this P-O-W camp and it was it was his job to 
keep the prisoners in their place and one example er was when er er when er 
Major Celliers er brought in the flowers and bread and the cake when they were 
not supposed to eat for forty-eight hours and then Captain Yonoi came to assess 
the situation and so on er Hara er Lawrence tried to plead the case and tried 
to get er Celliers free so that he wouldn't get punished but Hara of course he 
he being a Japanese soldier and in this sort of er situation didn't hesitate to 
er put to well er physically intervene against him because you know he 
shouldn't really talk to a high-ranking officer that in that way er and i 
suppose a more interesting relationship is between that of the Yonoi and 
Celliers and from the very outset from the very beginning of the movie fairly 
early scenes when Major Celliers was introduced er you could see the good in 
Captain Yonoi that he was the only one in the courtroom that sort of believed 
him who didn't all the others thought that you know he was guilty and so he 
should be sent immediately to a firing squad and get shot but it was only Yonoi 
who who stood up and pleaded his case so you immediately see that there is 
again a human level to this story not just a question of prisoner and er captor 
again showing contrast and he er actually fixed it so that even though he was 
sentenced to death he had blanks put into the gun so that he basically wouldn't 
be killed er why he did this we're not entirely sure perhaps he has this er 
Major Celliers has this sort of x-factor sort of je ne sais quoi er and er i'm 
going er the way that the film was er shot he gave it also gave the impression 
that perhaps he took a liking to er to Major Celliers er yeah er but er yeah 
but again we see this contrast of him have been this kind person but on the 
flipside he's also at the end of the day a Japanese soldier and it's a war 
situation and he has doesn't hesitate to punish those who try and stand up 
against his running of the camp when er when they discover that er they found a 
radio in the in the barracks er he didn't care who who was there someone just 
had to be punished it was that Japanese mentality that if something was done 
wrong someone or something had to be had to be done to stop this thing from 
happening again er and again showing er that also it er shows that sort of 
consistency with er Sergeant Hara in that he also to a certain extent is 
helping er helping the er the British soldiers and so we see that they are 
after all they're all human but they're just placed into this unfortunate 
situation where the rules of this placeer is is er paramount that everything 
that everything personal underneath isn't as important er and also again going 
back to the idea of Eastern Western cultures er the Japanese treated the er 
English with sort of contempt in that they thought they were cowards because er 
by through watching the movie we that if the er situation were reversed if a 
Japanese soldier was er captured er they gave the impression that they wouldn't 
have do do what the English did that they would have er seen it as disgraceful 
especially if they didn't try to still fight on still resist if they had if 
they still could and they couldn't understand why the British they still had 
that sort of you know stiff upper lip we invented the modern world sort of idea 
going on and so er so yeah they just basically treated them worse because of 
that and just because they didn't understand each others cultures essentially 
when you strip it all down they are are basically it's a human film at a human 
level and er i'll pass you onto one of my colleagues now 
sf5505: er i'm actually going to talk some more about namex be about what namex 
has been talking about er yeah personally i really enjoyed this film although 
there were like some quite disturbing sorry er i found some of the scenes quite 
disturbing er such as the scene where they beat the man accused of raping the 
Dutch soldier er i found the scene really oppressive and uncomfortable to watch 
also the scene where the Dutch man bites off his tongue and ch chokes to death 
er i don't think the violence in the film was overly gratuitous and unnecessary 
er on the contrary i think er the scenes helped portray life as a prisoner of 
war and the brutalities one might face in that situation er focussing on the 
relationships between the Japanese and the British soldiers er there are 
obvious differences in values between the two opposing sides such as in the 
case of the Japanese er which is referring to what er Captain Hara says er they 
would rather die than be captured as this would bring shame upon them whereas 
with the British as Mr Lawrence explains er this is an inevitable part of war 
and to commit suicide would be the act of a coward er the fact the Japanese the 
fact that the Japanese soldiers cannot understand this mentality seems er like 
an ancient relic of samurai values er which is er whose aspect is still 
innately present in Japanese value system in the case of Mr Lawrence he seems 
to understand more then anyone the differences between them and more 
importantly why these differences exist er again this is because he has an 
understanding of Japanese culture and and the language etcetera er in the case 
of Captain Yonoi and Jack C Celliers er from the outset you sense a strong 
sexual tensions between the two men mostly from Captain Yonoi who seems 
enamoured with Celliers even in the opening scene er i think this has come from 
an initial attraction and then admiration for Celliers er because of his rogue 
like character he seems quite attracted to him er yes the situation between the 
two men is full of homoerotic overtones and we see this especially in the scene 
where Yonoi's about to kill the British officer and Celliers kissing him er he 
does this because he knows the power he has over him and the effect it will 
have on Captain Yonoi and then referring again back to er what Captain Hara 
says about committing suicide at the end of the film er w we see Mr Lawrence 
visiting him on the e in prison on the eve before his execution
sf5506: er we're now going to analysis and bring everything to a conclusion er 
in 1914 it looked as though British and Japanese relationships were becoming 
stronger because they fought on the same side in the First World War however 
when the war finally formally began in 1914 that was when things all changed er 
British and Japanese citizens living in each others territory were confined or 
even imprisoned er some British soldiers were treated terribly in the er 
prisoner of war camps er and it is believed that this brutality displayed 
resulted from the cruelties of Japan's civil wars where the enemies were 
tortured and women were even turned into sex slaves er the dreadful treatment 
of the prisoners was also due to cultural traditions that date from the Bushido 
ethic that to surrender to an enemy was dishonourable er however there is 
evidence that many prisoner of wars er played football with local students and 
taught residents about agricultural technology and so experienced a very 
positive relationship with their captors and this proves the Japanese were 
certainly capable of treating their conquered enemy with basic humanity and 
respect er even though through Hara Gengo-san er in the film we see er terrible 
treatment of the soldiers because he can't understand er soldier's who 
surrender rather than fight to the death er through er Captain Yonoi we see a 
human and decent man er who tries to contain the violence in the camp and he's 
kind to the prisoners without being seen as a pushover er his relationship with 
er Captain Lawrence the spokesman expresses a positive relationship in the film 
when they work together for the good of the soldiers and the prisoners er and 
even though we see that Yonoi is repulsed by Celliers he still tries to 
accommodate and understand him which shows that even though most Europeans did 
succumb to horrific torture er many were helped and respected by the few decent 
comman er Japanese commanders present in the prisoner of war camps
sf5507: okay er i'm just going to talk about the relationships between the four 
er main characters in the film it's sort of what Warren and er Angie have 
already said but maybe in a bit more detail er Sergeant Hara and Lawrence er 
had an obvious friendship er they display a mutual respect for each other er 
for example Lawrence has the ability to speak Japanese and has an understanding 
of the culture er this has allo-, allowed him to er spend time with Sergeant 
Hara and er get to know him and also he's been er separated from his fellow 
soldiers who er they can't understand him because he's friendly with the 
Japanese er er it's very difficult for them to have a true friendship because 
in Hara's opinion Lawrence should have killed himself rather than er be 
captured and be in this situation so er but Lawrence sees this as the coward's 
way out he'd rather be caught and er put in the prisoner of war camp er 
throughout the film you see er Hara taunting and questioning Lawrence and this 
is an attempt to understand this culture which amuses him but he's also worried 
that it's going to corrupt the Japanese as well er whereas Yonoi and er 
Celliers er Yonoi is attracted to Celliers at the beginning of the film which 
is why he saves him er from the death penalty and puts him in the camp er he 
sees Cellliers' rebellious er nature as him possessing some samurai morals so 
he has some respect for him which is why he justifies the fact that he's 
interested him in him by this and that's why he wants to put him as the 
replacement commanding officer in the camp er that's basically it and Candie's 
just going to speak about how this relationship sort of sums everything up
sf5508: er i want to like er er give a summary about the four main characters 
and which may lead to a better understanding between er of the relationship 
between them er Mr Lawrence er he's an af afa afable affable affable but naive 
[?] speaking English officer and he desperately trying to alleviate the 
problems caused by culture and languages and to make the best of the brutal 
circumstances inflicted in on him and his other soldiers also he's trying to 
demonstrate a Western notion of mercy and while all around him it's the 
corporate notion of horror that often ends in ritual style suicide this raise 
the issue of his relationship with er Sergeant Hara and er the example that Mr 
Lawrence asks Hara to help the Korean soldier and to protect er told Mr 
Lawrence that Japanese would never ever ask for help from the enemy and the 
samurai don't fear him er and also Japanese don't understand yeah why as they 
mentioned before they would like to surrender but not just er fight to death er 
and also er the Japanese treat their prisoners with r-, brutal brutality and 
contempt as they think the deserve however day by day Mr Lawrence and Hara er 
seem to share respect to each other and eventually Hara er help to release er 
Mr Lawrence and other soldiers and [?] about another two significant characters 
Jack C Celliers and he's considered to be charismatic but enigmatic figure who 
engages the i-, Japanese in er psycho psychological mind games which preserves 
his er his self respect but also protect others and Captain Yo Yonoi er as a re 
re relatively decent man and yeah as er namex said before er er he's he's er 
struggled and the old warrior ethic he was elated and repulsed by er Celliers 
er but even though he's tries to understand him but eventually he's he's 
trained by the samurai er samurai of soldiers around him and er in the in the 
film that he ordered to be buried Jack in the sand but at night he cuts er a 
lock of hair of his hair and goes to him and er salute to him this symbolise 
Japanese nations complicated emotion about al alien culture and reveals the 
attitude of Japanese people to Western culture repulsive rejected but in 
inevitably attracted by them er this film is er excellent film about things 
about er er what h happened what culture meet or coincide the Japanese 
traditions and samurai culture add to Western psychology religion and 
maladjustment and after all er it brings a the bridge has been built to meet a 
friendly terms by Hara's er at the end Merry Christmas, Mr Lawrence 
nm5500: well done i think we'll move along directly because we're a little 
short of time so Group B 
sm5509: er yeah probably everyone can ] is it okay to use these er plugs
sf5510: okay er i'll start er we're going to be discussing war crimes and war 
responsibility and the aspects in the film and explore er the things which 
appear in the film so first of all what is the film trying to say about these 
two topics and who should take responsibility for acts committed on screen and 
for what reasons did they occur so it's following on from what we've just heard 
er but we need to think about what er ea-, different characters represent and 
who do we as an audience relate to most if any and if not why not and can we as 
Western viewers learn any insight into the Japanese psyche are is it too alien 
for us so in order to answer these questions we'd like to you to think about 
the following topics er first of all it's already been discussed really but 
Japanese attitude to honour surrender and the Emperor in order to understand 
their thinking behind some of the actions taken in the film and then linking to 
this er Celliers character er is he in anyway like the Japanese and following 
what he believes in and not being afraid to die and therefore is that why he 
and Yonoi er identified with each other er leading on from that they were in 
this sort of artificial situation as has been already discussed so were they 
the war crimes justified er taking culture into account was Sakamoto's 
character Yonoi merely trying to find out about his enemies and using any 
methods that he thought were justified er in order to er defend his country and 
er he needed to break the the men in the camp down so by doing he had to do 
that er in ways that his culture had taught him to do so were these these 
crimes actually a crime or was he doing what he thought was necessary er who is 
responsible as well the military and their interpretation of the imperial dogma 
or were the West responsible for the things that they'd already taught the 
Japanese and the way that they sort of encouraged this kind of culture and 
finally in this film er it's made by a Japanese director so is it acknowledging 
the crimes er committed in Japan and hence was er accepting responsibility for 
them and also we don't have things such as the fifteen minute things er 
programmes on TV in the mornings and also the the samurai the forty-seven 
samurai programmes so are these merely for entertainment or are they educating 
people against what was taught er and all the the methods that we used in Japan 
at the time er are they teaching people against that or they there just for 
entertainment er and finally what responsibilities must we as the Allies accept 
er if we were guilt-free then we would not have been present in the war 
sm5511: er i'm going to talk a bit about er the history of er the war crimes 
from the Japanese perspective er mostly about the Tokyo Tribunal and er just a 
little bit about the film as well er the film as was mentioned by the group 
before was based on the er Laurens Van der Post's book er The Seed and The 
Sower er it was the film was made in 1983 by Nagisa Oshima and starred er David 
Bowie and Tom Conti and er Ryuichi Sakamoto said that right er er it was known 
as Merry Christmas, Mr Lawrence and also Senjou no Merii Kurisumasu was i'm 
sure was the Japanese version er er the Tokyo Tribunal er lasted from the third 
of May 1946 to the twelfth of November 1948 and in which el eleven judges from 
different countries around the world er tried twenty-eight people of high 
military diplomatic and political rank er they were all found guilty er seven 
were er sentenced to death sixteen to life imprisonment two to shorter terms 
and two died during proceedings er controversy arose from this er tribunal er 
thirty years later in 1978 when the seven who had er died any who had died in 
er during their er imprisonment and two that died during the proceedings were 
er commemorated as er martyrs in the er Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo which 
commemorates er any Japanese who died defending their country er Yasukuni means 
peaceful country so it's the idea that they were trying to keep their own 
country peaceful er it it dates back to the er Satsuma rebellion and carried on 
all the way to World War Two er there's I don't know whether it can be seen as 
er Japan not accepting responsibility that these war criminals weren't really 
war criminals or whether it can be seen as them accepting the fact that most of 
these were only following orders given from some higher er power or whether or 
not it was the culture that they'd been brought up in that they were going to 
do act they way they did er yeah that that's about it from me i'll er pass you 
on to someone else okay
sm5512: er i'm going to do i'm going to talk about er examples in the film that 
relate to er the idea of war crimes war responsibility er i'm going to start 
off with when most people think of war crimes the motives that led to the 
Japanese er treatment of prisoners during the war they tend to think pretty 
much of samurai spirit being the motive behind that the idea Bushido's warrior 
caste and the kind of thinking behind that er it's already been mentioned but 
obviously the idea that it was dishonourable to be captured you should er you 
should i you know commit suicide if you lose er in in the film this is shown 
quite a lot i think that the film itself is actually a good example of er as as 
an ex the whole film itself is an example if you look throughout the film er 
the prisoners themselves are treated as though they're already dead so er 
they're malnourished they're er you know they're executed at whim so to the 
Japanese er captors they're they're already treated as though they're 
commodities er individual examples i'd say when when they're on when they're on 
the parade ground er the officer's quite annoyed that the wounded the people 
that that are in the hospital aren't on the parade and that that's i suppose 
another side or another signal of this samurai spirit the fact that you know 
they're they're nothing that you know they don't appreciate the wounded because 
er of the wounded they're British prisoners because to them you know they're 
not normal human beings er other examples er include execution of the Maj of 
the officer the British officer in charge from the film er there's also the 
psychological torture as well the idea that er they postpone Celliers' 
execution first of all er and then later er when h is put before a firing squad 
they put blanks in the gun that's not entirely discussed er but it's entirely 
possible this could be a form of psychological torture maybe er i thought i 
might compare the film to another to another film that's been made by Western 
directors er simply because it gives a slightly different perspective i i chose 
a Bridge on the River Kwai mainly because it's er the only example i could 
really think of at the time but it is quite it's it's quite a good example er 
because er although they're both the same in a sense they show British 
prisoners being er treated harshly er like malnourished er sort of beaten and 
killed but in Merry Christmas, Mr Lawrence what they do is they er the Sergeant 
is seen as the bad person and the officers the samurai tend to be po-, 
perceived as er portrayed in the film anyone as er reasoned er and benevolent 
people i mean that that's shown to an extent when er the Korean g-, the Korean 
guard is captured is captured the Korean guard is about be er commit the hara-
kiri or something er and the sergeant is about to er be very cruel i guess to 
him er that which is stopped because the officers come over the officers say 
you know what's going on although he he's executed in the end er there's this 
idea that throughout the film the the sergeant Sergeant Takeshi he's the one 
that tends to be slightly more cruel compared to the officers who tend to be 
more reasoned er maybe this is a portrayal perhaps of they're not trying to 
blame this entirely on the samurai er this is obviously compared to Bridge on 
the River Kwai where all of them are quite cruel er this this might just be a 
difference in the sort of West and East view but er it's not sure i mean er 
they're this is the first this first example er samurai spirit but there are 
actually i think two more sort of motives behind why the Japanese treated the 
prisoners as they did and this responsibility of war crimes er so from this 
book enough space er yes inventing japan er in the chapter relating to the er 
to the war what it claims is is that most of the Japanese soldiers were 
conscripts from conscripts not many of them were samurai er and what what it 
says is that because of the harsh lives they'd led especially under the 
military government generals and obviously the propaganda they'd been taught 
when they'd been er in Japan about their supremacy over other nations when they 
when they went er forth and conquered i guess er when they went to other 
countries they were they took out this frustration it was clear from the book 
they took out this frustration and so many of the people that committed war 
crimes weren't samurai adhering to a some some concept of Bushido and er that 
it was dishonourable they simply people taking out something on people they 
either thought were less than them or just simply they were they were cruel i 
mean if you if you look at the film er because they have er they have er 
surrendered without committing suicide but if you but that then doesn't explain 
why the Japanese in some circumstances massacred civilians because they're not 
combatants so there might be some reason there might be some other things apart 
from the main one which is always the idea of the warrior caste er the er this 
this is kind of shown in Merry Christmas, Mr Lawrence er again with the Korean 
incident er the sergeant who's probably a conscript farmer er or a peasant 
maybe er he's going to be quite ruthless to this Korean er and and a lot of the 
of the crimes in the film or the harsh treatment i is caused by him er whereas 
the the samurai er or the officers they tend to intercede quite a bit a bit and 
be more more reasoned and so to it's credit made by a Japanese director this 
film tends to could dispel that myth about it all being because of some warrior 
code er and even Bridge on the River Kwai that that actually plays more into 
the fact that it was because of er some of the samurai spirit er the last the 
last thing er the last reason given was actually that er it was done in loyalty 
to the Emperor er the Tokyo Trials one general claimed er that they were merely 
showing their er loyalty to the Emperor er and so by er by being cruel to the 
Emperor's enemies they were showing their loyalty to the Emperor himself so the 
concept that the Emperor's enemies are your enemies er by being more cru by 
being more cruel you're being more loyal to the Emperor and so this could 
perhaps be another motive another reason er apart from apart from that one it's 
not that's not er a er moot point it's an important point but er there were 
other arguments for their motives and responsibility that they should take 
because it could be argued it's easier to blame the war crimes on er some 
ancient code than it is to accept that er it was performed by people that 
weren't adhering to anything er so er ancient or i don't know er something like 
that er thank you
sf5513: er okay the English dictionary defines a war crime as crime such as 
killing committed during a war in viol violation of accepted conventions this 
means in order to have a war crime you have to have a convention to break in 
the first place now the Geneva Convention er to the treatment of the prisoners 
of war was revised in 1929 and was signed by forty-seven countries however two 
of the main countries who did not sign it were Japan and the USSR however in 
1942 the Japanese gave a qualified promise to adhere to the regulations of the 
Geneva Convention but they did not actually sign it so by law they're not 
contracted to apply the rules of the Convention er part of the Convention er 
sorry part of the Convention was that no prisoner of war could be forced to 
disclose information apart from his name or rank this is shown when Captain 
Hicksley in the film refuses to do so which annoys the head of the Japanese 
camp because he doesn't understand why he won't give him the information er the 
the cultural differences between the Western notion of an honourable surrender 
and the Japanese notion to fight to the death was a big contribution to the 
ferocity of the Pacific War which was the time period that the film was set in 
er Allied soldiers had trouble comprehending Ja the Japanese will to fight er 
in the face of certain death and Allied atrocities against surrendered Japanese 
was a function of the racism that infused the of fighting this resulted in 
various few survivors of the Pacific garrison er in the fighting at there were 
only seventeen Japanese prisoners taken from thousands er many surrendered only 
after being knocked unconscious by fire or from being incapacitated or being 
unable to resist due to wounds this illustrates er that the Japanese will to 
keep fighting er oh i forgot okay er okay although Japan at first during the 
Second World War committed such atrocities as the death march of Bataan they 
began to abide by the rules after a sufficient number of Japanese prisoners had 
fallen into Allied hands to make reprisals possible er Germany did not treat 
all it's prisoners alike Am and American and British subjects received the best 
treatment while Polish prisoners the worst so all countries were committing war 
crimes [?] er the modern legal standard governing the doctrine of command 
responsibility in the United States rests upon the pr precedent established by 
the United States Supreme Court in the case of General Tomoyuki Yamashita er 
the court's holding has become known as the er Yamashita Standard this is to do 
with where responsibility lies with war crimes down to subordinates and the 
commanding officers that are in control of them er General Yas Yamashita was 
the Commanding General of the Fourteenth Army Group of the Japanese Imperial 
Army and the Military Governor of the Philippine Islands from October 1944 
until control of the Islands was er taken by the US in September 1945 in the wa 
waning days of World War Two numerous atrocities were committed by troops under 
General Yamashita's control against the civilian population of the Phil 
Philippines when he was arrested he was charged with er by the Army's he was 
charged with violations of the law of war er included in this in this charge 
were allegations that forces under his command engaged in a deliberate plan to 
massacre and exterminate a large part of the civilian population of Batangas 
Province as a result of which more than 25,000 men women and children all 
unarmed noncombatant civilians were brutally mistreated and killed the General 
denied his responsibility saying that er he did not order these acts to be 
committed and he did not have control over the troops under his command however 
he was found guilty when the testaments from two hundred and eighty-six 
witnesses er gave a different account er General Yamashita challenged the 
jurisdiction of the military commission and asserted that he did not commit a 
violation of the law of war and claimed that he was denied a fair trial under 
the United States Article of War the Geneva Convention and the United States 
Constitution however the Supreme Court of the Commonwealth denied his writ in 
total in responding oh sorry and it then went on to the Supreme Court in 
February 1946 responding to his claim that he did not personally participate in 
the order of the commission of these offences the Court described the heart of 
the charge as being an unlawful breach of duty by him as an army commander to 
control the operations of members of his command by permitting them to commit 
the extensive and widespread atrocities and this brings to the point that er 
there's a responsibility of the commanders of the troops to enforce the 
conventions of war whether the troops themselves morally have an obligation to 
disagree with them or whether as a soldier as part of their job they're 
supposed to carry out any orders given without questioning them er okay so it's 
quite hard to er accuse someone of a war a war crime because obviously during 
war time normal laws of social order are different er firstly when there isn't 
a war if someone kills someone it's er sorry announced as murder however in war 
killing hundreds and thousands of people is deemed as patriotic and fighting 
for your country er and so it's deemed something of honour and value so it 
depends on your perception and interpretation of the situation of whether who's 
to be held responsible
sm5509: er right er Merry Christmas, Mr Lawrence is a film made by Japanese 
people which clearly explores er the war responsibility which Japan er of the 
Second World War does have er it's very important that it has actually made by 
Japanese people er it was made in 1983 er other films in popular culture er 
such as er Gojira which most people know better as Godzilla er this film is 
actually very interesting it was made in 1954 and er the reason that God-, 
Godzilla was er created was due to er er an atomic bomb i believe of which this 
monster was created but when you take into comparison that this is only nine 
years after two atomic bombs were dropped on Japan it's a very interesting er 
idea for a film er it's interesting because it's kind of changes Japan's 
responsibility because er it's the victim because Godzilla then goes along 
attacking many cities and killing many people and he this monster is the 
culmination of of the atomic bomb er meaning that Japan is is the victim rather 
than the aggressor er other interesting things are er in the Olympics held in 
Tokyo in 1964 the er the torch bearer was actually born on August the fifteenth 
1945 at the end of the war er kind of showing how Japan now is maybe not as 
responsible or that it is new Japan because er they they actually chose a 
person from after the war [?] as soon as the war begins showing the transition 
from Japan into er into the peace constitution er Japan another interesting 
thing about er the film is that other attempts er by er two Japanese writers to 
to explore er the traumas of the war and the responsibility and er they both er 
in different ways er wrote about Japan and in the war through war memories and 
humiliation or er his idea was to rather than to show responsibility or the 
suffering was to show the intensity which the war was involved yet in the 
1960's when these books er were written er failed to make any impact in society 
so it's interesting that then this film in 1983 er did er war responsibility 
explored within the film er the Japanese soldiers do many quite awful things 
torturing people and prisoners malnourishment but it's interesting because it 
also explores the responsibilities of people such as Major Jack Celliers er an 
interesting thing is the Japanese people er they're given in charge of a prison 
camp of of enemy prisoner's of war important thing is that these people were 
sent to kill to Japanese people i myself wouldn't be so nice to someone trying 
to kill me er Jack Celliers' responsibility firstly er he has a responsibility 
er which is explored in the film to his little brother who er is maybe 
comparable at least on a psychological level because his brother i heard from 
Ellen er was disabled he was made fun of of being hunchba hunchback Ellen yeah 
okay er which makes his responsibility quite big because he he was head boy at 
the school his little brother was going and er he was actually asked if there 
was any reason why his brother should not be treated different but for selfish 
reasons such as his own status and partly ignorance and being naive of of not 
wanting to signal out his his brother for any special treatment yet his 
responsibility is is quite large h he took away his brothers gift of singing er 
which to his brother was probably quite a tr er treasured gift and very 
important to him and it's it's taken a part er er a part of his brother away 
from him completely er another interesting responsibility of Jack Celliers is 
that he clearly is not in great mental frame of mind yet the other prisoners 
begin to look up to him and he even reser er accepts his responsibility as 
almost a leader of the group even though he he's clearly er well he he should 
never have been put into that situation but his responsibility here's great 
because neither are any of the other prisoners really in a great mental 
condition and er for him to see himself as their leader and to look after them 
and then they accept it because they've noticed his influence over the er 
captain of the prison camp Yonoi er this is also quite a responsibility er 
interesting at the end of the film when the er the guard sergeant er Gengo Hara 
Takeshi is er going to be executed him and Mr Lawrence er have a discussion 
about whether it is right about er him being put on execution er and they say 
well the the Allies now think they are right er just as er the Japanese used to 
think that they were right but it it's also interesting because the person in 
charge of Japan at the time was a General Douglas MacArthur who had the power 
more than the Emperor had maybe during his time he he was life and death in his 
way it's also interesting that er people like the guard sergeant er should be 
executed when other people maybe more responsible such as er Ishii Shiro er 
head of er 731 which was er a biological er weapons development which has huge 
[?] war responsibilities maybe more than Japan itself this er did many war 
crimes yet he he himself was not er put onto the Tribunal er because he was 
seen as a benefit to the the er information that he had to the American 
government not allowing it to want to fall into Soviet hands er but this puts 
an interesting responsibility on the Allies rather then Japan er Japan has a 
responsibility for committing such atrocities but surely er the Allies also 
have a responsibility for not for not allowing these things to go unpunished 
and even maybe encouraging it willingly accepting the information gained from 
from the er 73 731 er other very interesting things about the film is that er 
an actual Japanese pop star plays a major part in the film as Sakamoto er this 
is quite interesting it shows er and it's made by Japanese people showing 
Japan's war responsibility and it's played by a very popular er pop star 
Sakamoto er he also does the music which i will be playing er for you for the 
the film it's also an interesting contrast between the music that he creates 
which is is er quite mysterious and peaceful i guess compared to the actual 
character that he plays which can be brutal er although maybe misunderstood for 
his motivations er Japan's war responsibility on a whole er no country was er 
is is not guilty in in the war er it's interesting because perhaps Japan maybe 
is limiting it's war responsibility by acknowledging the responsibilities that 
it has with making such films as this er an example perhaps of how the West 
doesn't acknowledge such things er the Great War leader er Winston Churchill er 
his responsibility is also quite high in the war er an example i would give 
would be er in 1944 he was re redirecting food grain er towards the war effort 
to feed the er soldiers who who needed food and it's decision in itself er was 
not done er for any evil purpose if it was except due to his naivety er in 
Bengal er the result was a famine of which 3 million people died which in 
itself is quite a large responsibility placed on Britain er i myself haven't 
seen a film about this so that's very interesting er i'm going to finish off by 
by playing you a little of the music by Sakamoto as i said 
sm5511: just before Tom plays that er another example of the West er er 
supposedly committing crimes that we never really hear about is er a hi famous 
historian James Bacque er he's written a book called er Other Losses which er 
details Colonel Eisenhower who was er well i don't know Supreme Commander or 
whatever of er Europe towards the end of the war and afterwards he er he 
changed the German POW camps to German def camps D-E-F which stands for 
disarmed enemy forces which er negated them from the Gene Geneva Convention 
which meant that er i think it was one-point-seven million German soldiers died 
because of the terrible conditions and er not being allowed access to the er 
Swiss Red Cross er this while not very well known er James Bacque's book is 
supported by er the Colonel Ernest Fisher who's former formally Senior 
Historian of the United States Army for Centre of Mi Military History which you 
know he's got to have some credibility surely an and now for a musical interlude
sm5509: and this as i said by Sakamoto who played the Captain in many ways 
quite a contrast