The Great Raid

During the last months of the Second World War in the Pacific, the fighting--which had always been ferocious--turned into a war of extermination, as the Japanese death cult forbade surrender. On islands all over the Pacific, the Japanese fought to the last man, exacting a terrible toll from American forces. Because of their fierce honor code, the Japanese dealth harshly with Allied prisoners of war, who they regarded as cowards. On the infamous Bataan Death March in 1942, the Japanese forced 70,000 American and Filipino captives to march hundreds of miles to the nearest POW camps. Thousands died due to disease, exhaustion, and dehydration. The survivors were herded into camps notorious for their brutality and inhumanity.

When American forces reurned to the Phillipines in 1944, the retreating Japanese ordered that all prisoners of war were to be killed. Over 150 American captives in one camp were forced into "bomb shelters," where they were doused with gasoline and set ablaze. Those who tried to escape were mowed down by machine gun fire.

The Americans were aware of the Japanese' barbaric prisoner of war policy, and were determined to rescue as many American captives as possible. A daring rescue operation was developed that would penetrate thirty miles into Japanese-held territory and free 500 American survivors of the Bataan Death March three years earlier.

This the premise of the new war film, The Great Raid, starring Benjamin Bratt and Joseph Fiennes. Bratt plays Lt. Col. Henry Mucci, the commander of the rescue operation. He and battalion of Army Rangers covertly meet up with Filipino resistance fighters, who aid in the attack on the Japanese camp of Cabanatuan.

The movie is divided into thirds, which all run concurrently. While Lt. Col. Mucci and his men attempt to avoid detection, the plight of the desperate men inside the camp is shown. The highest-ranking officer in the camp, Major Gibson, (Fiennes), must maintain some semblance of authority over the other prisoners, so that he can dissuade them from a hopeless escape attempt. His reasoning is starkly clear: For every one man found trying to escape, ten other prisoners will be shot. His task of holding the men together while still maintaining hope is made all the harder by a relapse of malaria, which leaves him bedridden.

The third subplot seems a bit contrived, as if the story editors were trying to cram as much drama as possible into a tale that needed no more. From Japanese-occupied Manilla, the underground resistance smuggles food and medicine to the prisoners at Cabanatuan. One member of the resistance is an American nurse (posing as an Lithuanian) whose motivation to aid the prisoners is very personal--she is in love with Major Gibson, but she is unsure if that love is returned. To protect her own life and the lives of her collegues, she must keep her true nationality concealed from the ever-watching eye of the Japanese secret police.

Due to all these subplots and detours, The Great Raid at times seems a bit unfocused. The acting is sometimes stiff, and the characters are woefully undeveloped. The film's intentions are noble, but almost everything about it--especially its romantic storyline--feels forced. The most moving scene is the footage of the actual POWs returning to a heroes' welcome back in America. That reminder of historical accuracy is the movie's most appealing and memorable trait.