The Novel


I came upon the novel after I'd seen the movie a few times. Although the movie
follows the story line fairly closely, the novel has much more- not in events, but in the thoughts and feelings of the central character. It intensely expressed the absurd horror of an ordinary man in that grotesque time and place.

I also recommend "the Burmese Harp" (the movie).

It won't chip, peel, blister, crack, flake or rust in any way.

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Interesting. I greatly prefer the movie to the book. Sometimes less is more, and in this case I feel that's true. I felt like Tamura in the book was possibly an unreliable narrator, a man trying to justify certain actions or cover up wrongs he had committed. Tamura in the movie is more of a hapless spectator (of course, he does one bad thing in the film, but he regrets it). I find the movie's Tamura much more sympathetic. Of course, a large part of that is Funakoshi's amazing weary and human portrayal of the character.

I also felt like the uncertainty in the film surrounding certain events enhanced the horror and absurdity of those situations. Most notable is the scene where Tamura meets the man sitting by the tree. When the man grabbed something from the ground between his legs and put it in his mouth, I was horrified. Much of that horror came from not being exactly sure what it was he was eating.

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I think it's quite the opposite. In the film it doesn't really look like he regretted killing her too much. In fact if i hadn't read the book it would have probably seen really odd to see him throwing his gun away in the film.

I think the movie is pretty superficial adaptation. The adaptation get's lot of the little details right and doesn't change event's (just omits some.

But the reason why it's superficial because it leave's all the meat out (the inner thoughts of the Tamura).

The Tamura in the film might seem bit more humane but it's because the film version of Tamura seem's more like a simpleton. The Tamura in the book is obviously educated but the war just make's him lose his marbles.

But anyways, anyways. The film still had it's finer points. For instance the scene with the man in the hill was lot more disturbing in the film than in the book and i love how crazed the cannibal soldier at the end looked.

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I can't find The Burmese Harp anywhere.

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