Le Grand Raid

I do not normally go to War type movies, but since my Dad enlisted in the US Army after Pearl Harbor and was stationed in the Phillipines, I thought I should go to see what he went through. You see, WWII Vets don't talk much about the 'Great War'. War is just too horrible. So I went to see The Great Raid. It was awesome. The acting was great and the fact that it was a true story made it very poignant. Everyone in the theatre clapped after the movie was over. I validated it with my Dad after I saw the movie that it actually happened and he said 'Yes. We processed the POWs on our ship'. He remembers and has not mentioned it until now. Until I asked. It is true and it did happen. Kudos to the director and producer for bringing this to light and remembering something so important to our history.

Critics had carped about the dialog and pacing of this movie but I think they were wrong. This was a faithful adaptation of the book 'Ghost Soldiers', with first rate acting and outstanding action sequences. When the movie ended, original news reel footage was run with the actual POW survivors while the credits rolled. Nobody left the theater until this had ended. I liked it better than 'Saving Private Ryan'. A true story about true heroes, unlike so many Hollywood produced war movies that are written to please focus groups. I would recommend this movie to anyone with an interest in American history as it is accurately and movingly portrayed on film.

There are bunch of war movies , some of them are ordinary, few of them are worth mentioning, and very few are great movies. This one belongs to the last category. Why ? First is Story ; well almost all WW movies are based on true stories and this one also, point is how vivid how convincing that is portrayed. This movie gets a rare 9/10 in story telling. Acting is second; all performances are solidly founded. No over dialogue, no weak acting, excellent camera work, convincing sets of 1945 Manila and prison camp. I simply don't find any weak point about this movie. Besides it has a strong and rendering love story which never sideways the actual rescue operation. My recommendation will be to collect this movie in your private collection of war movies just besides "Saving Private Ryan" and "Bridge On The River Kwai".

Well maybe it's not all history. The screen writer may have inserted the love story. However, the love story did not get in the way of the history. What a wonderful slice of history. I rented this movie and enjoyed the extras that were included in the DVD. Why aren't there more movies like this one? See this film. It's just a good film made in the way films used to be made. No twists and turns, no funny camera angles, no cartoons (known as computer generated special effects to some); it's just a straight up story. Some might complain at the portrayal of the Japanese, but according to the survivors interviewed for the DVD extras, the film maker got it right.