Bates Film Festival: The Eternal Memory / Amigo / Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence

The Eternal Memory
dir. Maite Alberdi
2023 | 85 min.
11:00 am

Amigo
dir. John Sayles
2010 | 125 min.
with Q&A with director John Sayles
1:00 pm

Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence
dir. Nagisa Oshima
1983 | 123 min.
with Q&A with Kate Hideki, composter/musician; Hiroya Miura, composer/Associate Professor of Music at Bates College and Gina Fatone, Associate Professor of Music at Bates College
4:30 pm

The Eternal Memory

From MTV Documentary Films, The Eternal Memory tells an uplifting yet heartbreaking love story that balances vibrant individual and collective remembrance with the longevity of an unbreakable human bond.

Awards: Academy Award Nominee, Best Documentary Feature; World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Documentary, Sundance Film Festival

Amigo (2010)

When U.S. troops occupy his village, Rafael (Joel Torre) comes under pressure from a tough-as-nails officer (Chris Cooper) to help the Americans in their hunt for Filipino guerilla fighters. But Rafael’s brother (Ronnie Lazaro) is the head of the local guerillas, and considers anyone who cooperates with the Americans to be a traitor. Rafael quickly finds himself forced to make the impossible, potentially deadly decisions faced by ordinary civilians in an occupied country. John Sayles’ powerful drama of friendship, betrayal and heartbreaking violence is both torn from the untold history of the Philippines, and a reflection of today’s unresolvable conflicts.

Digital presentation courtesy of the UCLA Film & Television Archive.

In Person: John Sayles (Writer/Director/Editor)

Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence

In this captivating, skewed World War II drama from Nagisa Oshima, David Bowie regally embodies Celliers, a British officer interned by the Japanese as a POW. Rock star Ryuichi Sakamoto (who also composed this film’s hypnotic score) plays the camp commander, obsessed with the mysterious blond major, while Tom Conti is the British lieutenant colonel Lawrence, who tries to bridge the emotional and language divides between captor and prisoner. Also featuring actor-director Takeshi Kitano in his first dramatic role, Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence is a multilayered, brutal, at times erotic tale of culture clash, and one of Oshima’s greatest successes.

Awards: Best Score, BAFTA Awards; Palme d’Or, Cannes Film Festival

In Person: Kato Hideki, Composer/Musician; Hiroya Miura, Composer/Associate Professor of Music, Bates College; Gina Fatone, Associate Professor of Music, Bates College