The Great Raid
2.5 / 5
Inspired by the true story about the greatest rescue mission ever undertaken by the US military, The Great Raid tells how 125 mostly novice troops from the 6th Ranger Battalion embarked upon a very dangerous journey to free about 500 US POWs, held in a Japanese prison camp, in the Philipines, in 1945. The Japanese policy regarding POWs at the time was to let no one escape, kill them all off and leave no trace, to eliminate war crime witnesses. At the time of the war, the Americans were more focused on stopping Hitler in Europe, but once that was under control, they turned their attention to the Pacific theatre and the Japanese. As the Americans began to make a foothold in the Philipines, the Japanese would attempt to massacre all their POWs.
In one of the opening scenes, we see groups of American soldiers hurded into abandoned snipers nests. Drums of gasoline wee placed at the entrances to barricade them in but to also burn them alive. Anyone who managed to escape, while on fire, was machine gunned to death.
New intelligence told the military that there were 500 souls languishing in dire straits, for about three years now, in a POW camp, and they would be in jeopardy of being wiped out. Could a relatively small contingent of troops plan a resue mission, travel undetected and pull it all off? Being spotted by even one Japanese scout would jeopardize the entire mission as thousands of Japanese troops were nearby. The tentative Captain Prince, played by James Franco, was charged with drafting the rescue plan and leading the men in the field, under the supervision of LCol. Mucci. Mucci spoke to men about how they were the finest trained Rangers yet to see action, etc., and that their actions will either mark them well historically or they will be forgotten over time if they failed. He hoped that his pep talk could get a lot of heart out of the troops who had no combat experience.
Article comments
1 - Russ Blaise
In many Hollywood war movies the first casualty is often the truth. But despite the occasional errant bullet, Miramax Studios and Director John Dahl, were right on the mark with The Great Raid. The movie, based on William Breuer’s book of the same title, takes place on Luzon in the Philippines in late January 1945, and recounts the daring raid in which 121 Army Rangers of the 6th Ranger Battalion, two teams of Alamo Scouts, and Filipino guerrilla units combined to liberate 513 POWs from Cabanatuan POW Camp thirty miles behind enemy lines. The film begins with dramatic period footage and narration, which is needed given many Americans’ limited understanding of the war in the Philippines, but the opening runs about ten minutes too long before segueing into a powerful scene portraying the Japanese massacre of American POWs at Palawan. This scene clearly demonstrates the possible fate awaiting POWs at Cabanatuan, many of whom were survivors of the infamous Bataan Death March, and establishes the raison d’etre for the mission. The story is told from the view of Captain Robert Prince (James Franco), a Ranger company commander and subordinate to Lieutenant Colonel Henri Mucci (Benjamin Bratt). Mucci is rightly characterized as a dynamic, ambitious, and charismatic leader, who, through force of will and indomitable personality, races against time and overcomes all obstacles in preparing for and accomplishing the mission. At the heart of the secondary plot is real-life hero Margaret Utinsky (Connie Nielson), an American citizen who passes herself off as a Lithuanian nurse working for the Red Cross in occupied Manila. She smuggles food and medicine through the guerrilla resistance to the beleaguered POWs inside Cabanatuan, and faces certain torture and death if discovered by the Japanese secret police. Margaret, the widow of an American POW who died in Cabanatuan in 1942, is driven by the desire to help and by an unrequited love for POW Major Gibson (Joseph Fiennes), who will die without the medicine she provides. While the love interest with Gibson is arguably a necessary element for broadening the movie’s appeal and selling tickets to a mixed audience, it is clearly Hollywood. From an historical standpoint, the most glaring omissions were at the expense of the Alamo Scouts. Not only were fictitious names used for the Alamo Scout team leaders (Lts. Able and LeClaire for NELLIST and ROUNSAVILLE), but the role that the Scouts played in obtaining vital pre-raid information, and the subsequent evacuation of the seriously sick and wounded a day after the main body of prisoners arrived at American lines, was diminished or omitted all together. Also, the details surrounding the Alamo Scouts hastily constructing an airfield five miles from the camp during the night for the evacuation of the mortally wounded Ranger, Dr. James Fisher (Robert Mammone), were omitted, possibly due to Mucci inexplicably having failed to send the aircraft. At times the dialogue, mostly by the POWs, was stiff, manufactured, overdramatic, and violated the cardinal rule of “show not tell.” However, it was useful in further informing the audience about the three-year plight of the POWs at the hands of the Japanese Army. And in keeping with Hollywood tradition, the attack on the POW compound, which purportedly killed 250 Japanese, was exaggerated. “We didn’t approach the camp in a service line,” said Galen Kittleson, a member of the Alamo Scouts who participated in the raid. “We would have been detected and slaughtered. We approached the camp in a single line on our bellies heel-to-toe like a long snake. And there wasn’t that much fighting at the compound, and there certainly weren’t any tanks. We caught them by surprise and hit them so hard and fast that they didn’t have much of chance to fight back.” True historians and sharp-eyed aircraft aficionados were also disappointed in the unavailability of vintage Army Air Corps P-61 Black Widow aircraft needed to recreate the buzzing of the camp as a diversionary tactic prior to the raid. Instead, modified C-47s were used. But given the enormous expense and difficulty in obtaining real P-61s, Miramax should be allowed to keep its artistic license with just a slap on the wrist, that is, if it promises never to repeat such an historical faux pas in the future. The cinematography was realistic, with good use of light and shadow, which was effective in conveying the harsh and brutal conditions which existed at Cabanatuan. Equally impressive was the recreation of war time Manila, filmed at Shanghai Film Studios in China, and the relatively accurate use of extras. “We tried to be as accurate as possible in casting extras,” chuckled Dahl. “Japanese played Japanese, Filipinos played Filipinos, and Australians played Americans!” One of the strengths of the movie was the outstanding and authentic newsreel footage of the POWS that chronicled their journey from Cabanatuan a few hours after liberation to their emotional homecoming to the United States. In concert with an excellent musical score, it provided a powerful and emotional ending to the movie, one that clearly made an impact with the veterans in attendance. Had several minutes of narration and over-explanation been sacrificed on the cutting room floor, the dialogue tweaked, and the role of the Alamo Scouts expanded, The Great Raid could have been heralded as one of the more accurate and entertaining war movies of the last generation. But it falls just short of joining Patton, Saving Private Ryan, and few others on the pantheon of elite movies. Despite minor flaws, The Great Raid is a valiant and stirring attempt at recounting a heroic event in our nation’s history"one that should not and will not be forgotten. Go see the movie. You’ll be glad you did. NOTE: A special thanks to John Dahl and Miramax Studios for the private screening of The Great Raid at the Alamo Scouts Reunion in Kansas City on 18 June 2005. Dahl is a credit to his craft and should be commended. He was refreshingly humble, forthright, and reverent of the Alamo Scouts and the role they played in the raid. Kudos for his passion in such a noble project; for having the talent to balance the realities of the movie industry with the truth; and for having the courage to depict the horror of war for what it is. Review by Lance Q. Zedric, Author of SILENT WARRIORS - The Alamo Scouts Behind Japanese Lines. http://www.alamoscouts.org
2 - Barbara Foster
My husband and I thought the movie very well done and very touching. Being familiar with the actual event, we were not put off by the side story (the love story) and did not expect more detail to be shown on the other participating soldiers. The story itself was the main event and one was focused on that. The acting was excellent. I was surprised that the movie was given an "R" rating. We have seen many more violent and grisly scenes in PG13 movies. We give the movie *** and a half stars.
3 - John Montesa
I was not in the Cabanatuan POW camp so I truly cannot say how accurately the film depicts the raid. I know that the raid was not that much of a "shoot-em-up" from reading the after-action reports and conversations with members of the raiding party and one of the liberated POWs. One of the ending scenes is of a U.S. Army truck with a number of women aboard. This scene has no connection with the Cabanatuan raid and I wonder why it was used, except perhaps, to infer that one of the women was Margaret Utinsky. The truck scene was actually filmed by army photographers on the 23rd of February, 1945 during the liberation of the Los Banos Internment Camp on Luzon, Philippines. How do I know? Because I have a "still shot" of the truck. Why do I have this photo? Because one of the ladies in the truck was my mother. She, my two brothers and myself were inmates at this camp. I also recognized another person, a teen-age girl at the time by the name of Sally Bateman. Of course, she grew up, married and became Mrs. Sally Morgan. She is an active member of American Ex-Prisoners of War down in Texas. Incidentally, approximately 2500 people were rescued from the Los Banos camp, some forty miles behind enemy lines by the 511th
Airborne. It was an exciting day!
I thought the Great Raid was a good film, nevertheless.
4 - Jhj
Frankly the side love story mixing a real life persona--Ms Utinsky-- who was involved in a different but dangerous undertaking was needless and slowed the film down terribley. It's inclusion left out much of other incidents involved that could have made this quite a decent war pic. I disagree with the fact it wasn't a 'shoot 'em up'. The Filipino guerrilla engagement was quite intense with thier blocking action at the bridge losing them 23 men and the total number of Japanese killed around 500.
It's unfortunate they felt the need to introduce the romance aspect to this, it cheapened the movie and the real life efforts to free the POWs in my opinion. The real Margaret Utinsky story is worth a film on it's own.
5 - Zredd
Regarding the P-61, there are only a half dozen or so airframes remaining; none can fly.
One is currently being restored, hopefully to fly again. You can help.
6 - D-Dawg
This is a awesoume movie i reccomend to all people who like war movies.