The Great Raid

Films/DVD Asylum

Movies from comedy to drama to your favorite Hollyweird Star.

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.

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The Cable Cooker

Topic - The Great Raid - jamesgarvin 11:25:55 06/20/06 (5)

Perhaps you need more than "some" context - DWPCAPACHE 15:33:11 06/22/06 (3)

Re: Perhaps you need more than "some" context - jamesgarvin 16:01:19 06/22/06 (2)

First step to get out of a hole: - DWPCAPACHE 16:50:52 06/22/06 (1)

is to read what is written - jamesgarvin 18:01:34 06/22/06 (0)

Nice Review - Daryl Zero 19:19:44 06/21/06 (0)

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