114 of 118 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Edgy, sobering, magnificent!, September 6, 2002
"To End All Wars" is far and away the most gripping film I have ever seen. What begins as a prisoner-of-war story in the WWII Pacific Theatre, ends in the viewer's most private chambers of the heart and mind. People left so quietly out of the theatre that only a light rustling could be heard. Jack Cosmos delivers the single most impressive moment in acting that I have ever seen in film; an explosive moment that will leave all who see it breathless--if not catatonic. New-comer to the States, Ciaran McMenamin delivers when it comes to the raw moment that he realises he is in hell already; he takes on the manner of paranoid schizophrenic as he suddenly stumbles away from the chow line. Sutherland's acting as the lone Yank brings in a performance of steel, which later goes through a metamorphosis that must be seen. Carlisle displays a range of the most complex emotions imaginable with textured grace and flawless perfection. Mark Strong, who plays Dusty, exudes an inner dynamic and peace in the face of everything that demands hate. His very presence on screen is reassuring. There is a luminosity Strong brings to any scene that characterizes what is best about this movie.
This Indie has Academy Awards written all over it--but it must be seen in order to be nominated. I plan on seeing it several times to pick up more of Producer Hafer and Director Cunningham's subtle and oblique slants on ethics, what is true greatness and how are we to grip tightly to what we hold nearest and dearest.
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40 of 44 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Redemption, Forgiveness, Brutality, May 16, 2005
This review is from: To End All Wars (DVD)
I had never heard of this film. I picked it up because it looked to be an interesting war movie. On closer inspection, I became suspicious and suspected an apology and justification for Japanese war crimes. Just moments into it, I flipped the otehr way and thought it would be an acurate (as to the horrors of the Japanese treatment of prisoners) but shallow, depicting all Japanese as monsters and all allies as saints. Neither suspicion was well founded.
The brutality and horror of the Japanese treatment of POWs is graphically protrayed here. Some survivors who have seen it have horrified me by indicating that the movie pulled some of its punches and the reality was even worse. The thought that that could be true is utterly terrifying but does not detract from this film's ability to realistically protray that brutality. The film also protrays some virtues on some Japanese. The ugly facts are present but so too are some acts of humanity.
Neither were all the allied parts played as some sort of supermen. They had their good points and their bad. On balance, they WERE the good guys. That does not stop them from having the same assortment of humanity, with all its goods and ills, that any large gathering could be expected to have.
The story of the movie is fairly simple. Prisoners from the 93rd Regiment, the Argylle and Sutherland Highlanders, are forced to labor on a military railway by their Japanese captors. With them is a single American officer. The movie depicts the story of their mistreatment and their efforts to survive the horrors. Part of their approach in maintaining a degree of civilization amidst the barbarity is to run a "school". The school teaches such subjects as philosophy, music, drama, ethics and even Christian doctrine. They utilize whatever knowledge is possessed by the POWs. Some are skeptical but others thrive. The school gives hope. It is also apparent that the labors of the teachers bear fruit, especially with the concept of forgiveness. In the end, it is the ideas of forgiveness and redemption in the midst of suffering and brutality which are the point of the film.
It seems that some commentators take exception to the Christian message protrayed. Too bad. The story is taken from the account of a serving officer who became a chaplain at Princeton after the war. His story is a Christian one. I have no doubt that someone of a different faith would have couched his message in different imagry but that would have been a different story, not this one.
This is a powerful film. It cannot properly be calle entertainment (I hope) but it is still worthwhile. This graphic violence and suffering is difficult to take sometimes but the message is worth the effort. It is a work of excellence.
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28 of 31 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
decent film....but unfortunately drastically altered from book...., August 22, 2008
This review is from: To End All Wars (DVD)
If I had never read the book (which happens to be FACT, it is written by Ernest Gordon himself), I would have thought this was a fine movie, and liked it.
but the movie has so successfully watered down the christianity of the book....the movie retained about 20% of the "religion".
While this may work fine for many other stories (I understand many audiences resent "religion" on screen).....this almost killed it. Because that was the whole point.
In the movie, the brutalized men become human again after reciting Shakespeare&Plato.... For Heaven's sake, it was the Gospels that they were actually reading!!!
I suppose it now will touch English Teachers deeply....but it no longer corresponds to reality...
ALso....two nonfactual messages were slipped into the movie that made it more palatable to Politically Correct people, but was very offensive, insulting the memory of dead men.
First: the movie spreads the lie (originating from the grossly inaccurate film "Bridge over the river kwai") that the POW's gleefully helped the Jap's construction projects....projects that would help the Japs imperialist conquests of mass rape and civilian torture. (Do you know what the Japs did to the Chineses and Koreans? Its as evil top notch...ripped open pregnant women for sport, etc.)
BUt in REALITY, Ernest GOrdon devoted a page of the book to DEBUNKING the whole lie. He clearly wrote that the men worked under watchful eyes of guards and whips, at point of bayonet, and whenever they could, SABOTAGED or shoddily built things on PURPOSE.
Second: at the end of the film, the POW's stare at the liberating Allied soldiers as if they were some aliens from Mars. There is a hint of hostility, and a feeling that the POWs have now all become peaceniks.
BUT in REALITY, Ernest Gordon writes, they hoisted some stunned paratroopers onto their shoulders, and shouted themselves hoarse with joy, hoisting up a Union Jack onto the flagpole....
THere. I had to set the record straight.
I know the directors probably didn't want to be "preachy", but for heaven's sake, ERNEST GORDON BECAME A PREACHER. THAT IS WHAT HE WAS DOING IN THE DEATH CAMPS!!!
Btw, a good family friend of mine was converted by Ernest Gordon after the War. And yes, my Korean Grandparents suffered under the brutal Japanese Occupation, until being liberated by the Allies.
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