To End All Wars

i saw this film as i tend to like films of this type about humanitarian stories, the fact that this one is true actual events made it even more powerful for me. it truly does bring home the facts of what the men from ww11 endured to make our world today as free as it is, and it is films like this one that should be shown as part of history curriculum in high schools. the film was brilliant, brutal, honest, extremely well acted, filmed and managed to touch me to the point of tears. Robert Carlyle was fantastic, as were the rest of the leads, i would give this film 9 out of 10 simply because 10 out of 10 would be perfection and perfection does not exist.

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.

It was not until the end of the film that I discovered that this was a real life account by Ernest Gordon of the horrors suffered by the allied POW's building the Burma Railroad.

No film can ever show how terrible it was, despite the attempt to film in sequence with the actors dieting in order to lose weight as time went on. The actors would have had to do three years manual labor in the jungle heat for 18 hours a day on 1,000 (or less) calorie meatless slop, while suffering dysentery, beri beri, pellagra, tropical ulcers, regular beatings and other cruelty, all the time unaware of what was happening at home or how the war was going. They lived under the constant fear of being killed once they were no longer useful. By the time they were liberated the survivors were walking skeletons. Why the filmmakers could not find more skinny extras among the thousands available always puzzles me. When the men were lined up for roll call they could have put the emaciated looking actors at the front, and kept the well built lads at the back, dressed in rags to hide their muscular bodies.

I deducted two stars for the aforemention goof, and for the liberation in August 1945, appearing right after the dedication ceremony for the completion of the railroad in October 1943, at which the men were told they would be moved to other camps. Perhaps it was an editing slip up, but the B-24s arrived to bomb the camps, after which another flight arrived dropping leaflets immediately after.

It is a credit to the filmmakers that this relatively low budget movie conveys this terrible period so well. Although few, if any men, who were prisoners working on the Burma Railroad are still alive, despite the disbelief of several commenters this actually happened and should not be forgotten. This should be a "must see" in school history classes.

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.