Baruto no Gakuen

Baruto no Gakuen (バルトの楽園) or Ode to Joy is a Japanese film released in 2006 and based on the true story of the Bandō prisoner-of-war camp in World War I. It depicts the friendship of the German POWs with the director of the camp and local residents at the stage of Naruto, Tokushima Prefecture in Japan.[1]

Baruto no Gakuen
Directed by	Masanobu Deme
Produced by	Noriko Koyanagi
Starring	Ken Matsudaira Jun Kunimura Hiroshi Abe Bruno Ganz Oliver Bootz Kostja Ullmann
Music by	Shin-ichiro Ikebe
Edited by	Motomu Furuta
Distributed by	Toei Company
Release date	June 17, 2006
Running time	134 minutes
Country	Japan Germany
Language	Japanese German

The film, which explores the cultural interactions between the prisoners and the Japanese,[2] starred Swiss actor Bruno Ganz and Ken Matsudaira.[3] It was directed by Masanobu Deme.[4] Baruto no Gakuen is also called "The Bearded Orchestra". This title was derived from the Bandō camp's commandant, Toyohisa Matsue, who was noted for his "imposing" Wilhelmine beard.[5]

See also

• Germany–Japan relations

References

1. Kovner, Sarah (2020). Prisoners of the Empire. Harvard University Press. p. 230. ISBN 978-0-674-73761-7.
2. Burgschwentner, Joachim; Egger, Matthias; Barth-Scalmani, Gunda (2014). Other Fronts, Other Wars?: First World War Studies on the Eve of the Centennial. Leiden: BRILL. p. 144. ISBN 978-90-04-24365-1.
3. Johnston, Eric (2014-06-16). "Japan's gambit in WWI set stage for a dark future". The Japan Times. Retrieved 2021-01-20.
4. "- Götterfunken und Kirschblüten". Deutschlandfunk (in German). Retrieved 2021-01-20.
5. Vieser, Michaela (December 20, 2018). "Japan und Deutschland - Wie Beethoven alle verbindet". Deutschlandfunk Kultur (in German). Retrieved 2021-01-20.

External links

• Internet Archive retrieval of the official web site as it was on the 12th of February 2006 (in Japanese)
• Ode an die Freude (in German)
• Baruto no Gakuen (2006) at IMDb