Harp of Burma Punishment Room

"Ichikawa, the master of paradox."--Langdon Dewley

Perhaps only Ichikawa could in the same year win top prize at the Venice Film Festival for his poignant, pacifist war film Harp of Burma and release Punishment Room, almost banned for its graphic depiction of the violent lives of wealthy postwar youths.

One of Ichikawa's most honored films and a landmark of pacifist cinema, Harp of Burma tells the moving story of a Japanese soldier waiting out the end of World War II in Burma. The sole survivor of an attack on his unit, he disguises himself as a Buddhist monk and begins to walk home, but the appalling carnage he encounters causes him to stay to tend the wounded and bury the dead as an act of expiation. (1956; 116 mins.)

Based on a 1955 novel by Shintaro Ishihara, then governor of Tokyo at the age of 23, Punishment Room provoked heated controversy upon release for its disturbing look at the violent and sexually liberated lives of wealthy youths during the postwar economic boom. It's graphic depiction of gang violence and rape outraged women's groups and members of Japan's Parliament alike. (1956; 96 mins.)