Posted on 08/10/2005 7:02:08 AM PDT by robowombat
Movie Review: The Great Raid
Here’s my review of The Great Raid for NewsMax. For a Miramax movie, I was surprised by how patriotic and pro-military the film was - and by how positively they depicted Christianity. Jason and I talked with director John Dahl and producer Marty Katz after the screening, and they both expressed tremendous respect for the veterans of the Great Raid on Cabanatuan, and a sincere desire to pay homage to them by depicting their story accurately. John Dahl also spoke emotionally about the fact that his father served in World War II in the Pacific, and that his mother’s cousin died fighting the Japanese. My interview with Marty Katz runs in NewsMax this Thursday. The Great Raid opens this Friday, August 12, and conservatives should go and support it. Here’s my review:
The Great Raid on Cabanatuan is surely one of the most remarkable stories of heroism to emerge out of World War II. 511 American survivors of the horrific Bataan Death March, held as P.O.W.s in a Japanese prison camp in the middle of the Philippines, were rescued from certain death by 121 Army Rangers - most of whom had never seen combat before. Miramax’s “The Great Raid” (opening this Friday, August 12) does full justice to the story.
Heroes.
Director John Dahl ("Rounders") and producers Marty Katz ("Reindeer Games") and Lawrence Bender ("Kill Bill") went to unusual lengths to insure that every aspect of “The Great Raid"’s production was faithful to the historical event. From the genuine WWII footage that opens and closes the film, to the vintage WWII guns the soldiers use, to the tanks that were built from scratch, to the actors who underwent weeks of boot camp in order to experience the conditions soldiers and P.O.W.s lived under - every detail was carefully crafted to be faithful to history. Most importantly, this concern for historical accuracy carries forward to the script and its themes. There are no anachronisms here, no impositions of modern political correctness - the filmmakers wisely decide to trust their material and simply tell the story straight.
The result is the sort of movie that is all too rare in Hollywood today: a stirring, patriotic, pro-American story of heroism, self-sacrifice, and victory over daunting odds. “The Great Raid” is not only fair to our military and fair to America’s tremendous war effort - it is also fair to people of religious faith, with its positive depiction of the Catholic priests and relief workers who risked their lives to aid the Allies through the Filipino Underground.
The first half of the movie follows three intertwining stories that build up to the great raid. In the first storyline, Colonel Henry Mucci (Benjamin Bratt) and Captain Robert Prince (James Franco), stationed with American forces in the Philippines, are given the near-impossible mission of rescuing 511 American P.O.W.s from Camp Cabanatuan before they are executed by the Imperial Japanese. Army intelligence has brought them the news that as American forces have retaken the islands of the Philippines, the Japanese Imperial Army has been executing Allied P.O.W.s before the American army can reach them - and the P.O.W.s at Camp Cabanatuan are next.
Heroine.
In the second storyline, P.O.W.s within Camp Cabanatuan - led by Major Gibson (Joseph Fiennes) - struggle to stay alive despite the illness, torture, and starvation inflicted on them by the Imperial Japanese. A much needed light note in these camp sequences is Marton Csokas’ performance as Captain Redding, a lively reprobate who cajoles and wheedles Major Gibson to stay hopeful - and stay alive. The filmmakers don’t shy away from accurately depicting the war crimes committed by the Imperial Japanese: the American P.O.W.s are denied food and medicine, their Red Cross packets are withheld from them, they are tortured mercilessly, and prisoners are summarily executed without trial (one sequence, based on fact, shows 150 Americans in Palawan prison camp being herded into air-raid shelters, doused with gasoline, then burned alive). As he deals with the horror and inhumanity around him, the only things that give Major Gibson the will to live are his concern for his fellow P.O.W.s - and his love for a mysterious woman named Margaret.
In the third storyline, American Catholic nurse Margaret Utinsky (Connie Nielsen) risks her life to smuggle food and medicine to the American P.O.W.s in Camp Cabanatuan. Her own husband has died fighting the Japanese, and Margaret vows to stay on in occupied Manila and work with the Filipino Resistance. She is motivated not just by idealism, but also by personal attachment. Margaret is in love with Major Gibson, and by smuggling medicine into the camp she is also getting Gibson the anti-malarial medicine he needs to stay alive. Margaret is aided in her efforts by two Catholic priests and a group of ordinary Filipinos who acquire heroic dimensions in the course of making unimaginable sacrifices fighting the Japanese.
American leadership.
After the slow build-up of the first half of the film, the second half delivers a powerful and moving resolution. Colonel Mucci’s disciplined leadership and Captain Powers’ meticulous planning, with the crucial assistance of Filipino guerrillas, leads the Army Rangers to Camp Cabanatuan. The Great Raid itself is then carried out in a spectacular, perfectly-paced, suspenseful sequence. The action, the sound design, the music, and the special effects are all superb. Every prisoner is rescued, with only two army casualties, and the prison camp and its several hundred guards are completely destroyed.
The film’s conclusion had me in tears. After three long years in captivity, the American P.O.W.s finally begin their journey home. As the long line of P.O.W.s is welcomed by their comrades into the American camp, an American flag waves over them - and an American plane flies overhead. The men all look up and cheer - in the sort of moment that used to be common in Hollywood movies, but is all too rare today. The film then ends with a moving montage of actual WWII footage of the rescued P.O.W.s. The historical Colonel Mucci had brought four cameramen along with him to record the raid, and it’s wonderful to see the real P.O.W.s as they enter the camp, board their ships, and then sail back to San Francisco, where they are received with a tremendous heroes’ welcome.
“The Great Raid” is a wonderful movie, and conservatives should support it. “The Great Raid” follows in the tradition of such classics as “Back to Bataan,” “Objective Burma,” and “Bridge on the River Kwai,” and it’s nice to see Hollywood attempting a movie with this sort of moral clarity today. Now if only Hollywood could have this same sort of moral clarity about the War on Terror. Stories of heroism and victory are going untold today about America’s many successes in Iraq and Afghanistan - and I hope Hollywood doesn’t wait sixty years to tell them. But until the film industry is able to honestly depict the current war we’re in, a historical recreation like the “The Great Raid” will serve as a worthy substitute.
MRs and I went yesterday to see it. Theatre was practically empty, but it was very enjoyable, if somewhat predictable.
It just felt a little bit disjointed and hurried together. Three out of five stars.
Micheal Medved recommended it as well as "The Skeleton Key".
G
Glad you got to see "The Great Raid." I plan to see it if it ever comes here. You would think that at least one screen in this conservative pro-military town would have it on the first day. Some theater managers were obviously asleep at the switch.
It's only on three screens in all of Memphis TN, while we having 20-25+ showings each for "4 Brothers" and "Hustle and Flow".
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