I watched it twice and think maybe it is the best war or antiwar movie I ever saw. It is highly recommended for watching.

This is a truly great movie, which I am surprised has not gotten more attention.The story is great, and there is a lot to learn from it. The acting is superb! The cinematography, music score, editing and dialogue is wonderful.I found myself deeply involved emotionally with the movie, didn't want it to stop, and after spend time to reflect on it.Its a movie which gives a very realistic Picture of war and the consequence of choices. The characters are intriguing and some heroically moral.It was often an intense viewing, with never a dull moment, and does not try to be biased or nationalistic. I loved this movie and would highly recommend it to others, especially if you like movies like "the flowers of war, Saving Private Ryan, Schindlers list, The Thin Red line, K-19, Fury" and other of the greatest war dramas in Cinema.It's not a easy movie to Watch, and not for the faint of Heart but well worth a Watch!

This movie totally slid by me when it came out and I am usually pretty good at spotting good war movies. It was a really well crafted movie that kind of felt like a realistic version of the factually flawed movie "The Bridge over the River Kwai. No catchy whistle tunes, just the cold harshness of the non Geneva convention signing Japanese Imperial Army.The story follows a group of British soldiers as they surrendered to the Japanese and came to suffer the war as slaves in a POw camp. It illustrates the cold, in human treatment they suffered and how they survived in the face of such adversity and evil. It is a great tale, as gut-wrenching as it is, of both the evil humans do to each other and the strength that we can have to survive.The movie was filmed pretty well, and the actors, especially Robert Carlyle gave strong performances. As good as it was I still do think there was room for improvement, and it was still a somewhat sanitized version of what life in these camps were really like. Perhaps that was to get through the censors or the just didn't want to create a controversy or face a backlash for being to grotesque, such as the controversy "Saving Private Ryan," received for being to realistic in regards to it's D-Day scenes.I do think it is a movie worth watching for the history alone.Like my reviews, hate em? Comments, hate mail, or have a DVD you would like reviewed? send me an e-mail at : [email protected]

I rented this film not having read or researched any information regarding the true events behind it. I was surprised, and incensed to look further into the story.From the perspective of a movie, the actors, directing, etc were all very well put together and played. Kieffer Sutherland brought his character to pulling you into his part, Mark Strong and Ciaran McMenamin played their parts as kindred spirits excellently.The best acting was Sakae Kimura playing Sgt. Ito. He never spoke a line of English through the film, but his facial expressions spoke massive volumes! I was completely taken aback with how well he communicated without even speaking my native tongue. My hat is off to him for such an excellent performance.If you enjoy films about humanity, perseverance against all odds, and learning the atrocities of war this will be well worth your time!