This movie totally slid by me when it came out and I am usually pretty good at spotting good war movies. It was a really well crafted movie that kind of felt like a realistic version of the factually flawed movie "The Bridge over the River Kwai. No catchy whistle tunes, just the cold harshness of the non Geneva convention signing Japanese Imperial Army.
The story follows a group of British soldiers as they surrendered to the Japanese and came to suffer the war as slaves in a POw camp. It illustrates the cold, in human treatment they suffered and how they survived in the face of such adversity and evil. It is a great tale, as gut-wrenching as it is, of both the evil humans do to each other and the strength that we can have to survive.
The movie was filmed pretty well, and the actors, especially Robert Carlyle gave strong performances. As good as it was I still do think there was room for improvement, and it was still a somewhat sanitized version of what life in these camps were really like. Perhaps that was to get through the censors or the just didn't want to create a controversy or face a backlash for being to grotesque, such as the controversy "Saving Private Ryan," received for being to realistic in regards to it's D-Day scenes.
I do think it is a movie worth watching for the history alone.
Like my reviews, hate em? Comments, hate mail, or have a DVD you would like reviewed? send me an e-mail at : subliminal.lithium@gmail.com
The story follows a group of British soldiers as they surrendered to the Japanese and came to suffer the war as slaves in a POw camp. It illustrates the cold, in human treatment they suffered and how they survived in the face of such adversity and evil. It is a great tale, as gut-wrenching as it is, of both the evil humans do to each other and the strength that we can have to survive.
The movie was filmed pretty well, and the actors, especially Robert Carlyle gave strong performances. As good as it was I still do think there was room for improvement, and it was still a somewhat sanitized version of what life in these camps were really like. Perhaps that was to get through the censors or the just didn't want to create a controversy or face a backlash for being to grotesque, such as the controversy "Saving Private Ryan," received for being to realistic in regards to it's D-Day scenes.
I do think it is a movie worth watching for the history alone.
Like my reviews, hate em? Comments, hate mail, or have a DVD you would like reviewed? send me an e-mail at : subliminal.lithium@gmail.com