Today marks exactly a year since I first saw this masterpiece – and it changed me forever.

Thread: Here's why you should watch MERRY CHRISTMAS, MR. LAWRENCE too, with a few of my favourite frames from the film. (1/20)

It's a war movie: it's also not a war movie. I keep telling people how it's the most human piece of cinema I’ve ever seen. I can't describe it any other way: it makes you think about what it means to be human, what rights and wrongs are, what we are in such a profound way. (2/20)

All it does is provoke thoughts. It's very much a show and not tell kind of artwork. Everybody can draw their own conclusions - if they can draw an exact one, that is. A year later, and I’m still drawing them, still discovering new aspects of it. (3/20)

If you ask me, it was incredibly ahead of its time. Shot in 1982 and released the following year; tackling issues such as racism, xenophobia, homosexuality, ableism - again, in a way that makes the viewer reflect on these topics, not offering them a definite verdict. (4/20)

Its perspective is different from the hegemonic, western gaze: i.e. it subverts the harmful tropes of orientalism-exoticism by actually othering the white protagonist. It argues whether it's possible to build a bridge between isolated cultures and worldviews – and people. (5/20)

As I said, it pushes you towards drawing your own conclusions, which it does by hinting at a lot of external and internal conflict. It’s World War II, but a personal battle is also brewing inside the characters. With repression, guilt and conformism, that much I’ll say. (6/20)

The imagery and symbolism aligns with the incentive of provoking the viewer to react: so much visual detail can make way to different branches of interpretations. The colour grading and the angles support so much of what the film is trying to convey, in my opinion. (7/20)

The emphasis is on the dialogue; in contrast, when it isn’t, the events are portrayed in quite a brutal way (there's only a few scenes like that). I'd consider it both a very harsh and also a very tender piece. After all, it is based on a lot of opposites and tension. (8/20)

The fact that the source material was a book written by a white, Afrikaner (South African) author, with heavy Christian imagery and influences, and that in contrast the majority of the film crew is Japanese (besides the English group) is fascinating to me. (9/20)

Again, in my opinion, its strongest points derive from this uniquely Japanese perspective (and the amount of conflict with the historical conscience and tradition). Some of the Christian influences are lingering in the film, but I’d say more in the form of subversion. (10/20)

You can't even tell who the actual protagonist is: it depends on how you look at them. The four main characters' stories are interwoven in very specific ways, and all four of them are equally important - and go across incredibly engaging trajectories. (11/20)

The titular Lawrence's role - to build bridges in every possible way - is unique in itself. He isn't centred - his role is. Without spoiling anything, this function of trying to understand and be understood is what ultimately led to his fate in the plot, I think. (12/20)

I mentioned colour grading; the music! Both the visuals and Ryuichi Sakamoto's score lend the film a hazy, tense, sometimes dreamlike, even feverish feel, of which, at first, you aren't sure what to make out of other than being deeply affected. At least that's how I felt. (13/20)

The score alone is deserving of an in-depth analysis: it matches the picture's overall eerie yet beautiful quality so perfectly. Sakamoto-san himself said that he wanted to compose one that felt equally familiar but alien both to the 'Western' and the 'Eastern' ear. (14/20)

It's very difficult to talk about the actual plot and not spoil any of it, but: it has easily my favourite character dynamic I’ve ever seen on film - with the two characters only having a few direct interactions; only one without anyone else being present. (15/20)

It's a very contemplative piece that affects the viewer precisely because a lot of it happens 'internally', as you fit the puzzle pieces, so to speak. It will eternally amaze me how well and how sensitively it conveys feelings and desires without, again, much interaction. (16/20)

The importance lies in secondary meanings and interpretations, and I think that's part of its beauty. A lot isn’t being said, because the focus is on the unsaid – on what cannot be said. The climax of the film is reached with a gesture, not words. So is the aftermath. (17/20)

The ending is probably the most emotional final scene ever for me (and that's coming from me, who's incredibly easily affected by cinema in general). It really makes you question where you stand as a moral being; and also your approach to the characters throughout. (18/20)

Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence is a beautiful, intelligent, even harrowing work of art which if you're receptive to, will stick with you for a long, long time. I'd recommend it to anyone: both to those who process films emotionally and those who do it intellectually. (19/20)

Credits and my eternal gratitude to @recordedpicture for making this masterpiece, and also The Criterion Collection/Channel @criterionchannl for maintaining its legacy.

END OF THREAD: “There are times when victory is very hard to take.” (20/20)