The Burmese Harp

Private Mizushima joins Captain Inouye's morale-boosting unit and becomes the harper (saung) player. He uses music to lift the soldiers' spirits amid the harsh Burma frontline. The harp becomes a symbol of solidarity as they fight together.

The unit is offered shelter in a village, but they realize they are being watched by British and Indian soldiers. They quietly retrieve their ammunition and prepare for the approaching force. The tension rises as the looming enemy force becomes imminent.

Captain Inouye orders the men to sing, laugh, and clap to mislead the approaching British into thinking they are unaware of their presence. The British respond by singing the same melody, Home! Sweet Home!, creating an eerie mirror of the deception. The moment marks a surprising switch from hostility to shared song.

Following the ruse, Mizushima and his comrades surrender to the British, accepting that the war is ending. The act marks the transition from combat to occupation and reconciliation. A new phase begins as they let the British take control.

A British captain tasks Mizushima with persuading a group of hold-out Japanese soldiers on a mountain to surrender within 30 minutes. He climbs toward the cave where the commander and his men hide. The mission tests his resolve under pressure.

From the cave, Mizushima informs the commander that the war has ended and that surrender is the prudent option. The skeptical soldiers consider the offer but hesitate. His message marks a turning point, but the outcome remains uncertain.

The hold-outs confer and decide to fight to the end. Mizushima pleads for surrender and crafts a surrender flag to show goodwill. The flag is misinterpreted as his own surrender on their behalf, and they beat him, leaving him unconscious as their cave is bombarded.

Mizushima is found and tended to by a monk who nurses his injuries. After recovery, he begins to contemplate a new path rather than returning home. He chooses to hide among monks to avoid detection as a soldier.

To stay incognito, Mizushima steals the monk's robe and shaves his head. He sets out toward Mudon, traveling through a landscape strewn with the corpses of fallen soldiers. Along the way, he makes burying the dead a core mission.

On the road, he encounters many more dead Japanese soldiers and dedicates himself to giving them a proper burial. The solitary march becomes a meditation on the cost of war. His vow to bury the dead sustains him on the long journey.

Captain Inouye and his men keep hope alive that Mizushima is alive somewhere. They buy a parrot and teach it to say, Mizushima, let's go back to Japan together. The act shows their stubborn belief in reunion.

An old village woman carries the parrot to a monk they suspect is Mizushima. She returns with a second parrot that quietly says, No, I cannot go back. She also delivers a letter explaining that Mizushima has chosen to remain in Burma as a monk to bury the fallen, and that he will return to Japan only after he completes this task.