The Burmese Harp (ビルマの竪琴, Biruma no tategoto?, a.k.a. Harp of Burma) is a 1956 black-and-white Japanese film directed by Kon Ichikawa. It was based on a children's novel of the same name written by Michio Takeyama. It was Ichikawa's first film to be shown outside Japan, and is "one of the first films to portray the decimating effects of World War II from the point of view of the Japanese army." The film was nominated for the 1957 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, during the first year that such a category existed. Private Mizushima (Shôji Yasui), a Japanese soldier, becomes the harp (or saung) player of Captain Inouye's (Rentarō Mikuni) group, composed of soldiers who fight and sing to raise morale in the World War II Burma Campaign. When they are offered shelter in a village, they eventually realize they are being watched by British soldiers. They retrieve their ammunition, then see the advancing force. Captain Inouye tells the men to sing, laugh and clap, t...