For me, and I suppose many filmgoers, the impact of a successful war film is not the large-scale battles peppered with explosions, death, chaos and horror, despite the power this can have in the hands of a good director. It is rather the smaller stories within, the individual challenges and tragedy that better resonates. Think of that moment in Steven Spielberg‘s Saving Private Ryan when one man faces his own death in an intimate fight for life. Its makes war all the more terrifying.
That said, some war movies need scale to send the right message, or at least reveal how much the battle means to those fighting it. Such is the case with director John Dahl‘s underseen The Great Raid, a 2005 film with a troubled backstory, three years unreleased after filming, and a poor box office run. Is it a masterpiece in the genre? Hardly, but it is a well-made and well-intentioned effort based on real events, holding true to its source material better than most.
Set in Word War II, 1945, in Japanese-occupied Philippines, five-hundred US soldiers and citizens are held captive at a POW camp called Cabanatuan. They suffer greatly, with lack of food and medical care, many fighting malaria, and brutal treatment of guards who consider their surrender disgraceful. One of them is Major Daniel Gibson (Joseph Fiennes), the leader of the group slowly succumbing to malaria, trying to keep dignity for the prisoners while Japanese commanders offer little to help, torture and death the only language they seem to speak.
Nearby, Lt. Col Mucci (Benjamin Bratt) is ordered to liberate the camp, calling on Captain Robert Prince (James Franco) to form a plan along with fellow Philippine soldiers. If successful, it will be the largest rescue mission in American military history. Meanwhile, in the city, American nurse Margaret Utinsky (Connie Nielsen), has been working to smuggle medicine to the prisoners with the help of local volunteer resistance members, many who give their lives to do so. Margaret is also romantically linked to Gibson, and is desperate to save him.
The film works best when the camera pulls back and allows the larger story to take hold, oddly failing to invest the viewer in the personal struggles. While Fiennes is well-cast and dutifully loses weight and looks the part of a dying man, there is nearly no emotional context for us to get behind, his relationship to Margaret never seen, only spoken of. Likewise, while her part in this is more grounded and by extension more traumatic, it’s hard to feel why she is so motivated. More so, the dialogue in the smaller exchanges don’t quite resonate and feel sort of out of place when put adjacent to the more horrifying elements of the prisoners’ plight.
This goes for Bratt and Franco as well, who based on the limited research I did after the film, seems to copy well the personalities of those they portray. However, Franco especially is so thinly delivered that he looks like he absolutely doesn’t want to be there, so when the finale comes and it hinges on his presence, it comes up lacking the punch it needs.
However, all that said, this is a good movie. The story is gripping and the action within the camp are hard to watch, but in a way that fits the narrative perfectly. It should be hard to watch. It’s not that it’s loaded with gruesome effects, as it is not, but the immorality of it all, the choices made and the tragedy of their predicament carries a lot of weight. That is best seen in a moment when one solider, Captain Redding (Marton Csokas) makes a selfish escape plan and leaves others to suffer the consequence. It’s a haunting bit of horror that lingers well after the film ends.
The ending is the thing though, and while it doesn’t have the emotional jaw-dropping gut wrench of Saving Private Ryan‘s opening twenty minutes, it does work on a more strategic level, the cleverness and bravery of the soldiers, including a large segment of the story dedicated to the courage of the Philippine resistance soldiers, hitting all the right notes. It’s exciting, full of tension, and if you didn’t know were true, might not believe worked. Good stuff.
So, despite it’s weaknesses, The Great Raid is definitely one to watch, with a smart story, authentic settings, a slice of history, and attention detail, not too mention Trevor Rabin‘s fitting score. War film buff or not, if you have the chance give this a search and add it to your list. Then look up the real history and learn more.