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Poster for The Burmese Harp

The Burmese Harp

1956 · 117 min

A quiet, deeply moving meditation on war's aftermath, where music and compassion offer a fragile path to healing.

Directed by
Kon Ichikawa
Genres
Drama, War
Starring
Rentaro Mikuni, Shōji Yasui, Jun Hamamura
Overview
In Burma during the closing days of WWII, a Japanese soldier separated from his unit disguises himself as a Buddhist monk to escape imprisonment as a POW.

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In the UKNo streaming, rental or purchase options known.
Directed by
Kon Ichikawa
Genres
Drama, War
Starring
Rentaro Mikuni, Shōji Yasui, Jun Hamamura
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How it feels

Written by AI. It can be wrong.

Tone
  • melancholicstrength 3 of 3
  • earneststrength 3 of 3
  • warmstrength 2 of 3
  • bleakstrength 1 of 3
Pacing
measured, 2 of 4, from slow-burn to relentless
Attention
engaged, 3 of 4, from background-friendly to demanding
Themes
  • war
  • grief
  • faith
  • redemption
  • isolation
Places
  • wilderness
  • countryside
  • military
Era
period
Audience
adult
Form
  • nonlinear
Content intensity
  • Gore mild
  • Language none
  • Violence mild
  • Sex none
All scales, 0 to 10
Scales, 0 to 10
ScaleValue0 to 10
Action2
Horror1
Humour2
Realism7
Romance0
Tension4
Darkness6
Complexity5
Emotional weight8

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Where to watch in the UK

No UK streaming, rental or purchase options are known.

Streaming data from JustWatch.TMDB

Details

Genres
drama, war
Directed by
Kon Ichikawa
Written by
Natto Wada
Starring
Rentaro Mikuni, Shōji Yasui, Jun Hamamura, Taketoshi Naitō, Shunji Kasuga, Kō Nishimura, Keishichi Nakahara, Toshiaki Itō
Music
Akira Ifukube
Cinematography
Minoru Yokoyama
Runtime
117 min
Country
Japan
Languages
Burmese, English, Japanese

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