Dead Japanese Soldiers example essay topic

The Burmese Harp addresses the tragedy of war between Japanese and British in the middle of twentieth century. The end of World War II, in July of 1945, one Japanese corps, which was about to escape from Burma to Thailand, learns of their nation's surrender, and is sent to a POW camp in one Burmese town called Mudon. It is the beautiful tone of harp that one Japanese soldier Mizushima plays to console the exhausted soldiers. Under such circumstances, Mizushima has come to be entrusted with the duty that persuades a still-fighting unit into surrender; however, they reject his persuasion and are killed by British. On the way back to a POW camp, he encounters many dead Japanese soldiers and tries to bury some of them.

He gradually becomes obsessed with burying and honoring soldiers who cannot go back to Japan, and decides to remain Burma until he finishes holding a memorial service for all the Japanese dead. The Burmese Harp, a drama, deals with war and its effects along with a rich visual experience. The film makes us deliberate not the fact in any history textbooks but a more pensive and contemplative individual emotion of each soldier. The soldiers are not described as emotionless at all; on the contrary, each has a family abounded in love and looks forward to see them again. Each of them carries the picture of their family back in Japan with them all the time in order not to forget about them and their love. Even during the battle, the soldiers get together to sing a song with their captain who has a background in music and Mizushima who has become an expert at playing the harp.

Music always gets people together even they get separated, or even they are opposing to each other, such as the singing of both the British and Japanese troops at the end of a war. Mizushima sees the numerous bodies of Japanese soldiers that lie down all over the place, and averts his glance from them once; however, looking at the British corps burying dead soldiers sincerely galvanizes him into action. He determines to stay in Burma as a monk in order to comfort the spirits of the fellow compatriots. This important sequence made him rethink the value of each humans life. As for the movie production, when Mizushima goes back to a POW camp in Mudon, or especially when he encounters a number of unburied remains, the director used the longer shots. This might be because they wanted to take more time for the important scenes – how Mizushima was changed, why he decided to stay in Burma.

The heart of this movie, what Mizushima sees on the way and how they affect him, requires sophisticated technique of filming to have the spectators understand the transitional Mizushimafs inclination. In a majestic nature such as a vast extent of grassland, wild jungle, beaches, rivers, or Burmese Buddhist temples, they films barbarous slaughters. The gap between the wild and the war also may be worthy of remark in the film. Representation of magnificent nature clear up how foolish the war is. The film has a tangible sentimentality and concerning with war and all its senseless tragedy. As we pursue the journey of Mizushima, we see his transformation from one soldier to one holy monk.

In this important transition, he realizes the death of those people affects many people, and be disconsolate about the cruelty, heartlessness, and meaninglessness of the war. The concept of war seems so silly and stupid to Mizushima; and he senses that the death would serve no purpose. Only misery and sorrow will remain in our memory forever. The message of this film is so simple but very important for all of us.

This film teaches us how purposeless and atrocious the war is with a proficient shooting way such as placing only Mizushima in a vast reach of land for a long time. By watching this film, we clearly need to think meaning of life once again and know that nothing is more precious than human life.