History YMMV / MerryChristmasMrLawrence

* FoeRomanceSubtext: Buckets and buckets of it. Enough, in fact, that it drives the entire plot.

** People who are not familiar with the film tend to assume that Bowie's character is named Mr. Lawrence.
** A common title for the film in Europe is ''Furyo''. Many people assume someone is called Furyo in it, while it's actually the Japanese word for "prisoner of war".

** Karel De Jong doesn't have it easy, to say the least: first it is strongly implied that [[spoiler: the sexual relationship he had with Kanemoto was not consensual.]] On top of that he is brutally punished for it by the guards. These events leave him traumatised and even make him a target of mockery by his fellow prisoners. Later he is forced to watch [[spoiler: Kanemoto commit sepukku. This upsets him so much that he bites of his own tongue, leading to a horrific death by choking on his own blood]]

* NightmareFuel: The scene with [[spoiler:the Korean being forced to commit seppuku, followed by the Dutch soldier choking to death on part of his tongue which he has bitten off and swallowed]]. Way to ram home just whose side you're supposed to be on in this film.
* {{Squick}}: Hara's description of [[spoiler:the incident with the Dutch soldier and the Korean]] falls into this category.

** Lawrence.
** Poor Karel de Jong.

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omWZGZ2HZu8 The main theme]], which shares the title of the film. A vocal version, featuring Music/DavidSylvian, is known as "Forbidden Colours". Both musicians have released new recordings of both versions of this song over the 30 years since the song was originally released, and it is a perennial feature of Sakamoto's live performances.

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: The film was the first major scoring project by Music/YellowMagicOrchestra member Music/RyuichiSakamoto, and as such it's chock-full of incredible pieces by him. Sakamoto in fact was so anxious about his performance as one of the film's lead that he filled the movie with sweeping musical cues to try and cover up what he felt was a mediocre performance; regardless of one's opinion on Sakamoto's acting in the film, it's hard to deny that he succeeded at making an astounding and memorable soundtrack. A few particular standout tracks are as follows:

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IaI_dJMMFp8 "Sowing the Seed"]], which plays as [[spoiler:Celliers saves the life of Hicksley by stepping in and kissing Yonoi, who gets so overrun by his conflicted feelings that he gets paralyzed]]. Equally compelling are its two other variants: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJH9kEQF8YQ "The Seed and the Sower"]], which plays during Cellier's attempts to escape the prison camp, and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aywVU67iq88 "The Seed"]], which plays as [[spoiler:Yonoi gives his final goodbye to Celliers as the latter dies]]. In all three cases, the connecting {{leitmotif}} brilliantly highlights the intensity of Yonoi's conflicted feelings for Celliers, someone he loves as much as he despises.

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic:
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omWZGZ2HZu8 The main theme]], which shares the title of the film, was written by Music/RyuichiSakamoto himself. A vocal version, featuring Music/DavidSylvian, is known as "Forbidden Colours". Both musicians have released new recordings of both versions of this song over the 30 years since the song was originally released, and it is a perennial feature of Sakamoto's live performances.
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IaI_dJMMFp8 "Sowing the Seed"]], which plays as [[spoiler:Celliers saves the life of Hicksley by stepping in and kissing Yonoi, who gets so overrun by his conflicted feelings that he gets paralyzed]].

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LF9_9MZyQGo The main theme]], which shares the title of the film, was written by Music/RyuichiSakamoto himself. A vocal version, featuring Music/DavidSylvian, is known as "Forbidden Colours". Both musicians have released new recordings of both versions of this song over the 30 years since the song was originally released, and it is a perennial feature of Sakamoto's live performances.
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STcu0v1XyWQ "Sowing the Seed"]], which plays as [[spoiler:Celliers saves the life of Hicksley by stepping in and kissing Yonoi, who gets so overrun by his conflicted feelings that he gets paralyzed]].

* BrokenBase: Two versions of the film exist: one with subtitles for the Japanese dialogue and one without. The question is, which is better? Arguments in favor of watching it with subtitles posit that a good deal of important expository details are only given away in the Japanese dialogue, and that subtitles aid the delivery of this information for audiences not already fluent in Japanese. Arguments in favor of watching without subtitles claim that the experience offers a greater sense of immersion, as viewers not fluent in Japanese will be just as lost as the British prisoners, having to rely on what limited information is conveyed by both Lawrence and the small moments where the guards speak in English. The fact that the film slowly uses more and more English dialogue for the guards also furthers the argument, as it corresponds with the strengthening ties between them and the prisoners over the course of the plot.

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shxP8FTXoQM "Sowing the Seed"]], which plays as [[spoiler:Celliers saves the life of Hicksley by stepping in and kissing Yonoi, who gets so overrun by his conflicted feelings that he gets paralyzed.]]

** The "Father Christmas" scene, in which Hara orders for [[spoiler: Celliers and Lawrence to be released from execution.]] It's even sweeter because Hara is incredibly drunk, and is laughing merrily the whole scene through. The others's touched and slightly bewildered reactions fall into this too.

* NightmareFuel: The scene with [[spoiler:the Korean being forced to commit seppukku, followed by the Dutch soldier choking to death on part of his tongue which he has bitten off and swallowed]]. Way to ram home just whose side you're supposed to be on in this film.

* TearJerker: The epilogue, taking place four years after the events of the film. [[spoiler: Hara has been imprisoned for war crimes. The night before his execution, Lawrence, now free again, comes to visit him.]] The whole scene is both sweet and very sad. Especially in [[spoiler: Lawrence's]] case. He may have survived as one of the winners, but that also means that he loses someone he has become quite close with. The heartbroken look on his face after he bids farewell, clearly on the verge of tears, really does it.
---> '''[[spoiler: Lawrence]]: '''There are times in which victory is very hard to take.
* TheWoobie: Lawrence.

** Celliers's little brother, [[spoiler: a talented singer who is often bullied. His spirits were crushed by brutal mockery during his initiation ceremony at school. As a result, he never sings again. The worst part is that his older brother, whom he looked up to, didn't do a thing to help him even though he had the power to spare him the ritual.]]