Review: The Great Raid (****)

THE GREAT RAID
A film review by Steve Rhodes

Copyright 2005 Steve Rhodes



RATING (0 TO ****): ****



In a year with a non-stop stream of sequels and remakes, the natural
reaction to THE GREAT RAID, by director John Dahl, is "Why don't they make
more movies like this?" Ones with real stories that matter and ones which
will reduce you to tears of joy.



A film that literally takes your breath away, it tells the events
surrounding what is said to be the greatest rescue mission in U.S. military
history. After fifteen thousand Allied soldiers died on the Bataan Death
March in the Philippines in World War II, many POWs still survived.
Although the POW pantries were full of Red Cross supplies, the Japanese
starved the American prisoners and vowed to kill ten U.S. soldiers for every
one who tried to escape. In 1944, the Japanese high command ordered the
mass slaughter of the POWs whenever it appeared that they might be on the
verge of being liberated by advancing American forces.



THE GREAT RAID, based on a true story, is set during five days in January
1945. In a little over five days, the Allies will reach a POW camp. If
this happens, the Japanese will sadistically execute all 511 POWs inside.
The camp's only hope is the 6th Ranger Battalion, a group of extremely well
trained, complete rookies. Made up of farmhands from small towns, the group
is commanded by Lt. Colonel Mucci (Benjamin Bratt). The colonel tells his
men honestly, "You're the best trained, least proven battalion in the whole
U.S. army," but he is confident that they can pull off the seemingly
impossible. These one-hundred-and-twenty men have no more than five days to
work their way through territory controlled by thirty-thousand Japanese
soldiers, sneak up on a camp surrounded by eight hundred yards of absolutely
flat, bleak terrain, and defeat a heavily guarded camp before the soldiers
inside have a chance to kill the POWs in their "care."



That the brave soldiers succeed is a given, or they wouldn't have made the
movie. But there will be plenty of surprises in this intriguing thriller,
which is bracketed with long, emotionally moving archival footage in the
opening and the closing. Battles and the military strategies leading up to
them are complex, but the narration is both lucid and touching, as is the
textual information on the screen so that you never have trouble following
the action.



The movie is structured into three interleaving parts. The raid itself is
led by Captain Prince (James Franco). The POWs in the camp are led by a
brave but dying Major Gibson (Joseph Fiennes). The third part concerns the
Philippine resistance with Connie Nielsen playing one of the nurses who
smuggles medical supplies to the POWs. Although the soldiers conducting the
rescue mission get the most screen time, each section of the story is
allowed plenty of room to breathe and thrive.



At a time when filmmakers try to turn naturally patriotic pictures into
anti-war diatribes through heavy use of revisionist history, THE GREAT RAID
stands out like a breath of fresh air, sticking to the facts and letting the
events tell the story.



I cried. And I suspect you will too. This is easily one of the best movies
of the year.



The Great Raid runs a gripping 2:12. It is rated R for "strong war violence
and brief language" and would be acceptable for teenagers.



The film opens nationwide in the United States on Friday, August 12, 2005.
In the Silicon Valley, it will be showing at the AMC theaters, the Century
theaters and the Camera Cinemas.



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