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Miramax Film about what is presumably the biggest rescue mission undertaken by the U.S. Military. A little history for those, like me, who may need some context. During W.W.II, the Japanese held about 50,000 prisoners of war. The problem was that at the time, the Japanese were in dire need of men, and could not afford to use the amount of men necessary to watch that many prisoners of war. So began what became known as the Bataan Death March, which was really marching the prisoners of war to various camps in the Phillipines. The logic was that it was easier to smaller groups of prisoners. Along the way, any men that left formation were summarily executed. The Japanese military culture indoctrinated their soldiers to believe that surrender was cowardly, and so the prisoners were viewed as cowards, not deserving to live.Towards the end of the Pacific campaign, the Japanese, prior to loosing a position, would execute the prisoners in a particular camp. The execution generally consisted of herding the men into abandoned airplane "holes", throwing in gasoline, then burning the men alive.
Enter the film. The Japanese were holding more than five hundred prisoners at Cabanatuan. The military brass was planning an advance, and realized that they would be rolling over the camp. Problem was, when they advanced, they knew that the prisoners would be executed. Consequently, a daring plan was devised to rescue the prisoners before the major military campaign.
The film is played more like an historical recount of films that Hollywood used to churn out starring John Wayne, Lee Marvin, et al. before they began introducing "art" into the equasion. If you liked "Tora Tora Tora" more than "Pearl Harbor", then you will like this film.
The film shows the major players, and what I liked most, actually showed the officers planning the assault. There is thankfully little of those glory speeches designed to arouse. The battle scenes are also devoid of any special effects, demonstrating, in an organized fashion, the actual attack, and how the attack mirrored the carefully drawn plans.
No special effects. Unlike the recent "Windtalkers", which took a compelling subject and then degenerated into endless explosions and special effects, The Great Raid is comprised mostly of the planning, the use of a single plane to allow the men to successfully crawl over two hundred yards of flat, empty ground to reach the camp, and finally the well executed attack. How well executed? The Americans lost two soldiers, and were outnumbered about 800 to 150. And they retrieved the prisoners, only one of whom died.
The films also shows us the importance of the Philipine resistance, and which I did not know existed, which held off Japanese reinforcements, allowing the Americans to rescue the prisoners without Japanese outflanking them. The Philipinos lost twenty-one men.
The end credits role over actual film footage of the rescuers, and the rescued, and shows the rescued being reunited with family. It was very touching, and very poignant.
The critics were generally not kind to the film. Some I read complained that characters were not developed. Some that the story was told too late. Some that this was a rah-rah film. I think those critics miss the point of the film, and have apparently forgotten the need for films which can illustrate our history, and the good things that the military does, and can do. To those who think that the U.S. military is nothing but murderers (and there are those), this film will likely be considered propoganda. Though I am not sure I have ever heard of Miramax being particularly pro-military.
But for those who like accurate historical films in the vein of the aforementioned, this is one that should be on your list.
Follow Ups:
From Wikipedia:
"The Bataan Death March was a war crime involving the forcible transfer of prisoners of war, with wide-ranging abuse and high fatalities, by Japanese forces in the Philippines, in 1942, after the Battle of the Philippines (1941-42), during World War II. In Japanese, it is known as Batān Shi no Kōshin meaning the same. 10,000 of the 75,000 POWs died. "Your post makes the deaths of ten thousand unarmed prisoners in one week sound like little more than an unavoidable cultural faux pas by the Japanese. I certainly hope that's not your view.
Perhaps rather than writing in broad generalities, you should provide some concrete examples of what I wrote that led you to that interpretation. I wrote: "Along the way, any men that left formation were summarily executed." Certainly, that sentence, by any rational interpretation, cannot be used to support your conclusion. The word "summarily" clearly makes the point that there was little thought involved in the execution, other than someone fell out of a single file line."The Japanese military culture indoctrinated their soldiers to believe that surrender was cowardly, and so the prisoners were viewed as cowards, not deserving to live." That is clearly not a judgment, but a fact, and explains, to a large extent, why the Japanese treated prisoners like they did. You could probably likewise find a cultural reason for why Japanese auto manufacturers are very successful.
"Your post makes the deaths of ten thousand unarmed prisoners in one week sound like little more than an unavoidable cultural faux pas by the Japanese." It certainly did not. Because some people interpret the Bible in such a way as to justify killing their children, which some have done, does not mean that the Bible stands for such a proposition. I will charitably attribute your post to a bad case of looking for something that is not there.
Stop digging.Your words: "The Japanese military culture indoctrinated their soldiers to believe that surrender was cowardly, and so the prisoners were viewed as cowards, not deserving to live." That is clearly not a judgment , but a fact, and explains, to a large extent, why the Japanese treated prisoners like they did."
Quite clearly "not a judgement". Your original explanation of the deaths of 10,000 is not only nonjudgemental, but goes some distance in rationalizing the Japaneses command's decision as a logical solution to a distribution problem. And you proceed to do it a second time in your response.
In your review post you say "...the Bataan Death March, which was really marching the prisoners of war to various camps". I disagree and believe it was really an act of monumental barbarity.
The purpose of the The Bataan death march was to take the prisoners to other camps. That is a fact, not subject to conjecture. It was not called the Bataan Death March before the trek began. It became known as The Bataan Death march because of the murders which took place along the way. The same logic applies to the "Trail of Tears" that took Native Americans out west. I doubt the U.S. military announced to the Native Americans that "hey, get ready, we are leaving on the trail of tears." These events or places were given names because of what happened on them.You write: "In your review post you say "...the Bataan Death March, which was really marching the prisoners of war to various camps". I disagree and believe it was really an act of monumental barbarity."
That the Death March was a march of the prisoners to various P.O.W. camps is beyond dispute. That it became a monumental barbarity is also beyond dispute. Your posts assumes that the march and the subsequently barbarity are mutually exclusive, as though me calling it a march, which it was in that men walked in a regimented line, and they themselves calling it a march, assumes that is was not barbarity, or that I did not think it was a barbarity because I called it a march. Your interpretation is a mistake. Your ascribing such a thought to me is an insult.
You quote me as follows: "The Japanese military culture indoctrinated their soldiers to believe that surrender was cowardly, and so the prisoners were viewed as cowards, not deserving to live."
I stand by that statement. Were these men born soldiers? Were they born with such evil in their hearts? Are rascists born rascists? Or do they learn those believes, which then lead to evil deeds? If you agree they are not born that way, then something entered their brains and warped their mental process. If it was not the Japanese military culture, then pray tell, what was it? Do Japanese believe the same things today? If not, then why not? Perhaps it is because the Japanese Military was dismantled following WWII, and it's culture eradicated, along with the Emperor.
"Your original explanation of the deaths of 10,000 is not only nonjudgemental, but goes some distance in rationalizing the Japaneses command's decision as a logical solution to a distribution problem. And you proceed to do it a second time in your response."
Again, you miss the point. I never wrote that the deaths of 10,000 men was a logical solution to a distribution problem. This is what I wrote: "The logic was that it was easier to smaller groups of prisoners." I left out a word, 'watch', but I did not correct the sentence because a rational person would know the missing word. Nothing in that sentence in any way, shape, or form states or implies that the reason the Japanese executed 10,000 men was because of a "distribution problem." It is clearly easier to watch 10 groups of 5000 rather than one group of 50,000. Or so the Japenese thought.
This sentence is then followed by: "Along the way, any men that left formation were summarily executed." The reason I stated they were executed was because they left formation, not because the Japanese need to weed out men in order to make it easier to watch them. If that was their goal, then why not simply execute them, rather than march through a jungle? I would think it patently obvious for most, though apparently not all, the reason those men were killed is because they could not keep up, and the Japanese were not about to either halt the line for the sick and feeble, or carry those prisoners. Hence, they killed them. Those are facts. That you apparently need me to state the obvious that these acts are barbaric says more about you than me.
You made it seem interesting and worthwhile, I will check it out.
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