Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (Japanese: ), also known in many European editions as Furyo (俘虜, Japanese for "prisoner of war"), is a 1983 British-Japanese wartime drama film directed by Nagisa Oshima, produced by Jeremy Thomas and starring David Bowie, Tom Conti, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Takeshi Kitano and Jack Thompson. The screenplay by Oshima with Paul Mayersberg was based on Sir Laurens van der Post's experiences as a Japanese prisoner of war during World War II as depicted in his works "The Seed and the Sower" (1963) and "The Night of the New Moon" (1970). Sakamoto also wrote
Laurens van der Post 1998. Ingaret died five months after him on 5 May 1997. After his death a number of writers questioned the accuracy of van der Post's claims about his life. His reputation as a "modern sage" and "guru" was questioned, and journalists published examples of van der Post's embellishing the truth in his memoirs and travel books. A rebuttal was published by Christopher Booker (van der Post's "Oxford Dictionary of National Biography" biographer and friend). For a complete list see External links. Film adaptations of his books. Laurens van der Post Sir Laurens Jan van der Post, CBE (13 December 1906