To End All Wars

"To End all Wars": Starring Robert Carlyle ("Go Now"), Keifer Sutherland, and MANY talented men. As the film began, it felt like a cousin to "Bridge on the River Kwai", but the plot slowly morphed to an even MORE complex set of ethical issues, with divisions not seen in that great 1950's film. I see this new one as more related to the movie "Andersonville" - our own true American tragedy of a P.O.W. camp during the Civil War - and what THAT experience demanded of those interned. "To End all Wars" is certainly an anti-war film, and a true story, but looks at many individuals for the complexity of dealing with the horror...and offers bits of consolation...where it can be found. Its elegant ending reminded me of "Schindler's List". "To End all Wars" deserves to be considered a PROFOUND film.

What if I told you you will watch a war film but won't see so many war scenes? Would you believe me? Would you say "this can't be a war film!"? Well, believe me, TO END ALL WARS is this film! It's a very good WAR film where shots and guns are not seen very much. Maybe this movie should be named a "drama war" or anything like a "military drama". But let alone the genre. The important thing is to enjoy this nice movie with a different development: a Scottish group of soldiers are sent to Thailand to fight the Japanese force but ends up being kept as captive. The soldiers are forced to build a railway for the Japanese but some of them plan to escape from that hell. When they're together at night, they discuss what to do for their future but they don't seem to agree about it. The discussions (and arguments) arise and each of the prisoners defends his point of view. The acting is very good and our attention is 100% towards the story.

Most of the reviews I've read of this film use the word "powerful" to describe it, and I will too. It's powerful because it's realistic; no stereotyped good guys or bad guys here (it's based on a true story, after all), and yet plenty of cruelty and some kindness, which leads to an exploration of themes such as justice and mercy in a way that (at last) doesn't lead to boredom or cynicism. It's *not* a light relief to watch this -- but nor was Schindler's List, possibly the only other prison-camp movie which matches this one for exploration of human motivation and hope.

Oh, and it stars a crop of very respectable (and largely British) actors. Why, oh why has this never had a cinema release in the UK?

In a Japanese POW camp, a Scottish band of soldiers learns about a very different culture - the hard way. They also learn from the more refined and educated among them the meaning of serving each other and their enemies, to the point of self-sacrifice.

The film begins rather slowly (and overly-sentimental) but becomes an incredible story with great acting and characters, powerful philosophy and imagery. Many gripping moments of self-realization, facing reality and appreciation for life and death. The depth of relationships, self-sacrifice and lessons learned leaves the audience with a lot to process. Overall, very inspiring and well-made.

After repeated watchings my rating may go up. I love the movie THE THIN RED LINE and this movie reminded me of it strongly except it did not have the excellent cinematography that film did.

I watched it because I like Robert Carlyle a lot and was not disappointed by his performance or any other of the actors on both sides of the war. The pacing was perfect and the violence was very brutal and sometimes unexpected but effective.

The message it delivered to me made the movie for me. Loving thy enemy. Just realizing that we are all just humans caught up in something we didn't start. I highly recommend this movie if you like a film made with compassion.