“This...is a requiem for the Japanese defeat in Burma, grave rather than sentimental, noble rather than sordid. In 1945 a unit of men struggle over the mountains towards the Thailand border. But they are captured by the British. The war is finished. Mizushima, a favorite among the troops for the songs he plays on his harp, is parted from his friends, and is appalled by the corpses that he sees everywhere.... (S)oon the atmosphere of death overwhelms him and he becomes a Buddhist monk at Mudon, burying his companions and refusing to go back to Japan. Ichikawa's...respect for the situation introduces a mystical note that finds its visual equivalent in the temples around Mudon. Mizushima finds himself profoundly in sympathy with the placid modus vivendi of the Burmese.... (Mizushima) represents a hostage to the war dead, a token of hope and vision in the face of catastrophe.” Peter Cowie