Film: 'Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence' (1983)

This is - an extraordinary film. I don't think I've felt so moved by any other; there may simply not be any other which so tangibly portrays the utter madness of men in times of war. The four main characters, placed in impossible circumstances by the enmity of their countries and cultures and by their own conflicting feelings, alternately support and destroy one another in a heart-wrenchingly believable fashion.
Perhaps it is so believable because the story was based on Sir Laurens van der Post's remarkable memoirs of his years spent as prisoner of war at a Japanese camp in Java during the second world war - at any rate that might account for the truthful ring of the script. I think, though, that the real power lies in the unusual solidity with which the main cast became their characters; I don't expect I shall see another film starring David Bowie during which I forget that it's really David Bowie I'm seeing. Truthfully, I watched this film purely for the sake of the soundtrack and the star-studded cast, and came away from it with something in me changed. I cannot begin to express how much I hope that you will see it too.