History Trivia / MerryChristmasMrLawrence

** Downplayed with Tom Conti, who is playing an Englishman but was born in Scotland to Italian parents.

* WriteWhatYouKnow: Laurens van der Post was also a prisoner of war and spoke Japanese. He based the book on his own experiences, making the character of John Lawrence an AuthorAvatar.

* WriteWhatYouKnow: Laurens van der Post was also a prisoner of war and spoke Japanese. He based the book on his own experiences, making the character of Lawrence an AuthorAvatar.

** Jack Thompson (Australian) as the British Group Captain Hicksley. Thompson tries an English accent but doesn't quite pull it off.

* StarMakingRole: The film's award-winning soundtrack catapulted Music/RyuichiSakamoto into in-demand status as a scorer, a career he continues to thrive in to this day.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen:
** The film was originally intended to start with Lawrence visiting [[spoiler:Yonoi's memorial shrine]] in Japan years after the war, narrating its significance and then [[HowWeGothere flashing back to the story proper]]. The idea was ultimately rejected by co-writer Paul Mayersberg, who felt that giving away [[spoiler:Yonoi's death]] that soon killed the film's suspense. According to Mayersberg, Creator/NagisaOshima jokingly described him as an evil spirit for changing his mind on the matter so effectively.
** How did music legends Music/DavidBowie and Ryuichi Sakamoto work on the same film yet never work on music together? In fact, Music/DavidSylvian ended up being the singer of the film's theme song. While Sylvian is definitely a fantastic singer and had a noticeably Bowie-esque charm in 1983, the unfulfilled possibility of Bowie carrying vocal duties leaves one wondering.

* NamesTheSame: No, this movie is not about the Creator/MrLawrence who's the ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' writer.

* PlayingAgainstType: Even back in early 80s Japan, Kitano was better known as a comedian. He wanted to be in the film because he wanted to be taken seriously as an actor. In several interviews, he mentioned that when he snuck into a screening, he was disappointed that [[IAmNotLeonardNimoy the audience laughed at his presence on screen instead]].

* FriendshipOnTheSet: Music/DavidBowie became fast friends with James Malcolm during location filming in Auckland, New Zealand. Bowie openly referred to Malcolm, who played his character's brother in the movie, as his "New Zealand brother," and when he revisited Auckland during the supporting tour for Let's Dance the following year, he invited him on-stage to release a peace dove together.

* MarketBasedTitle: The film is just titled ''Furyo'' (俘虜) in France and some other European countries. It's the Japanese word for "prisoner of war".

* CaliforniaDoubling: Notable for being filmed on-location in UsefulNotes/NewZealand and the Cook Islands. The scene of Celliers' fake execution was filmed in the Auckland central railway station as it appeared in the early 1980s.

* CreatorBacklash: In a 2017 interview, Sakamoto mentioned that since this was his first film as an actor, he thought that his acting was "ugly" and "bad". Through a half-joking but half-serious explanation, the reason for the many SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic moments was his attempt to cover up his inexperience on camera. Administrivia/TropesAreTools.

* MarketBasedTitle: The film is just titled ''Furyo'' (俘虜) in France and some other European countries. It's the Japanese for "prisoner of war".

** The film was originally intended to start with Lawrence visiting [[spoiler:Yonoi's memorial shrine]] in Japan years after the war, narrating its significance and then [[HowWeGothere flashing back to the story proper]]. The idea was ultimately rejected by co-writer Paul Mayersberg, who felt that giving away [[spoiler:Yonoi's death]] that soon killed the film's suspense.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: How did music legends Music/DavidBowie and Ryuichi Sakamoto work on the same film yet never work on music together? In fact, Music/DavidSylvian ended up being the singer of the film's theme song. While Sylvian is definitely a fantastic singer and had a noticeably Bowie-esque charm in 1983, the unfulfilled possibility of Bowie carrying vocal duties leaves one wondering.

* IronyAsSheIsCast: "I wish I could sing" and "I've had no romantic interludes of any real importance" from the mouth of Music/DavidBowie. Well, the film was made before he met Iman...

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: How did music legends Music/DavidBowie and Ryuichi Sakamoto work on the same film yet never worked on music together? In fact, Music/DavidSylvian ended up being the singer of the film's theme song.