The Burmese Harp
(Biruma no Tategoto)

Screening on Film

Directed by Kon Ichikawa.
With Shoji Yasui, Rentaro Mikuni, Tatsuya Mihashi.
Japan, 1956, 35mm, black & white, 116 min.
Japanese with English subtitles.

Kon Ichikawa first attracted international acclaim with this hauntingly poetic saga of the transformation of a militaristic consciousness into a passionate dedication to humanity and Buddhism. A young Japanese soldier in Burma, horrified by the savagery of war, assumes the role of a Buddhist priest and tries to bury as many bodies as he can. From a script by his wife, Ichikawa’s ravishingly photographed film deftly examines what he termed "the pain of the age."