3. Major Jack 'Strafer' Celliers - Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (1983)
Nagisa shima's wonderful character-driven drama set in a Japanese World War II prisoner-of-war camp was released in the same year as The Hunger, but couldnt be more different. Bowie plays Strafer Jack Celliers, a New Zealand soldier who develops an unspoken culturally and socially forbidden bond with the camp commander, Captain Yonoi. Like the rest of the prisoners, Celliers is grubby, tousled and sweat-streaked throughout, completely at odds with Bowies urbane, perfectly coiffed vampire wannabe in The Hunger. Celliers is a man of some reputation in the camp (and even outside) because of his skill as a soldier, hs uncompromising integrity and his strength of character, hence the nickname strafer. However, these are also qualities that the rigid, honourable disciplinarian Yonoi admires. Bowie plays a sardonic, tough-as-nails firebrand in this film, the kind of role youd expect from Clint Eastwood a decade earlier, or Bruce Willis a decade later. Neither of those men could have given Celliers the fey, unbalanced edge he has throughout, and its doubtful that either man could have so delicately put over Celliers conflicted feelings towards Yonoi. The narratives climactic scene is almost unbearably fraught, as the tension between the two comes to a head on the parade ground. In that moment, Celliers is untouchable, practically angelic, as he steps between Yonoi and a man about to be executed. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXK6FrhNTos After that performance of tightly wound, feral machismo, the sudden return of Bowies otherworldly aspect with this Christlike affect to it is riveting, unforgettable. Just for that one moment he seems to belong to a different, higher order to the other soldiers littering the muddy parade ground. Then the moment is gone, and the ugliness of the setting reasserts itself. Celliers is done for but Yonoi wont forget, and neither do we.
Professional writer, punk werewolf and nesting place for starfish. Obsessed with squid, spirals and story. I publish short weird fiction online at desincarne.com, and tweet nonsense under the name Jack The Bodiless. You can follow me all you like, just don't touch my stuff.
