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The Great Raid
- Review Date: December 14, 2006
- R
- Genre: Drama
- 2005
Common Sense Media says
A by-the-numbers WWII movie; mature teens and up.
Parents say
QUALITY
Kids say
What parents need to know
Parents need to know that this movie includes violent, dark images of war and prisoner abuses. Characters curse briefly, look ravaged, suffer abuse at the hands of captors and from malaria, and participate in prolonged, rough-looking battles.
What's the story?
"We all knew the idealistic notion of rescuing POWs far outweighed its strategic value," intones narrator Captain Robert Prince (James Franco). It's January 1945, and 511 survivors of the Bataan Death March are wasting away in a prison camp in Philippines, and a team of 121 Army Rangers and Alamo Scouts means to recover them. When they hear the camp's commander, Major Nagai (Motoki Kobayashi), will soon be executing all prisoners, under Tokyo's "Kill All" policy, the Rangers' Lieutenant Colonel Henry Mucci (Benjamin Bratt) and Prince make their move. At the same time, the prisoners struggle to maintain hope after three years in the camp. Malarial Major Gibson (Joseph Fiennes) leads by example, physically weaker by the day but determined to survive until rescue.
Is it any good?
Adapted from William B. Breuer's The Great Raid on Cabanatuan and Hampton Sides' Ghost Soldiers, THE GREAT RAID reaffirms familiar oppositions between bravery and iniquity, by way of a by-the-numbers WWII movie plot. And its representations of variously raced characters -- Japanese, the Filipinos, the Caucasians -- are careless. It's a portrayal necessitated and perpetuated by war: the enemy must look less than human. The film includes several solid Filipino soldiers, including the valiant Captain Juan Pajota (Cesar Montano), whose resistance army holds off a Japanese deployment to ensure the rescue mission's success. Still, the raid itself resorts to simplistic good and bad images, with no comprehension of the Japanese beyond what seems a singular desire to commit atrocities.
What families can talk about
Families can talk about the possible reasons for this film's historical basis -- a raid in which U.S. military rescued 511 prisoners from a Japanese prison camp -- having remained largely untaught in U.S. classrooms and unheralded in popular culture. This fictionalized version adds a romance (between a soldier and a nurse) and tense relationships among U.S. soldiers, both rescuers and prisoners: what dramatic purposes do these storylines serve? How does the nurse's devotion to the major help connect action in two locations? How does the movie represent the Japanese and Filipino soldiers, in their very different relations to the U.S. troops?
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AGE
This should have got the academy award!
This was a great movie, and a true story. It is cinematically a true work of art. Because it was patriotic and not full of obscenties, the critics panned it. It is excellent. This should have got movie of the year. Go figure!
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AGE
Great true story of the greatest rescue in American history!
This is a truly great movie starring James Franco and Benjamin Bratt. There is plenty of violence, although not too severe. There is one execution scene, though, where 10 POWs are lined-up and shot in the back of the neck. There is some blood shown with each execution, but overall, it is not as graphic as some war movies. The language is actually not much of a problem. There are about two f-words, although hard to hear because of the battle sounds, etc. There are also some other colorful phrases throughout the film, but not much for a R-rated movie in this day and age. There is no sex whatsoever, although there are a few minor references. Overall a great movie, which most people probably will enjoy. (14+)
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AGE
Not nearly as good as "Saving Private Ryan" or "Platoon", but still good
Then again, I think it's impossible to make a better war movie than the two listed above (same goes with the general genre, but also including "Schindler's List"). I would suggest that you read the book first to familiarize yourself with the movie's premise, since some people thought it was a little confusing (personally, I didn't). Continuing the inevitable movie comparisons, "Raid" wan't nearly as violent/gorey as "Ryan" and wasn't as realistic as "Schindler's" 'actuality violence'. There was some cussing here and there, and two brief "f*cks" (one was kind of hard to hear though). So if overall, the movie was good, though I have a feeling that I appreciated it more since that period of conflict greatly interests me.
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| Studio: | Miramax |
| Director: | John Dahl |
| Cast: | Benjamin Bratt, Connie Nielsen, James Franco |
| Genre: | Drama |
| Run time: | 132 minutes |
| Theatrical release date: | August 12, 2005 |
| DVD release date: | December 20, 2005 |
| MPAA rating: | R |
| MPAA explanation: | strong war violence and brief language |
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