The Japanese movie THE BURMESE HARP (1956, 1h 56min) by Kon Ichikawa is a powerful and affecting anti-war movie. It tells the story of a Japanese platoon who surrenders to British forces in Burma in 1943. The platoon’s harp player, Mizushima (Shôji Yasui), is selected from the prisoners of war to deliver a request for surrender to a Japanese regiment holed up on a mountain. Mizushima fails to convince the soldiers to accept defeat, and a last stand commences. Traumatized by the bloodshed of his fellow countrymen, Mizushima disguises himself as a Buddhist monk and begins a journey toward peace of mind amid the chaos. From start to finish, there’s a stirring humanism to Ichikawa’s little seen classic.