The Great Raid

The Great Raid is based on the historical World War II rescue of 511 U.S. prisoners of war held in the Japanese-controlled Cabantuan camp in the Philippines. It is a very character-driven story, almost entirely based on actual people with only a few exceptions. The movie takes place over 5 days in January 1945 and follows three separate groups of people involved with the rescue: the battalion of rangers who plan and execute the rescue mission, the prisoners at the camp, and the small group of Filipino and American civilians who form the underground resistance to the Japanese occupation of the island.

There is not a lot of action in the movie until the fifth and final day, as the story mostly focuses on the days leading up to the actual raid. We see Colonel Mucci (Benjamin Bratt) and Captain Prince (James Franco) plan their approach for the raid, which must be done with as much stealth as possible since the Japanese will kill all of the prisoners if they suspect any military action. Local Filipino guerillas, who are sympathetic to the Americans, lend their assistance to the rangers as the battalion is severely outnumbered by the Japanese military. We are reminded several times that the rangers are well-trained but unproven in the field, going against all the odds to successfully rescue the prisoners. We are also shown the experiences of the prisoners at the camp, who have been held for three years following the brutal Bataan Death March that killed most of their number. The surviving prisoners are led by Major Daniel Gibson (Joseph Fiennes), who tries to keep his men’s spirits high and prevent them from attempting escape from the camp. Gibson is informed by the Japanese commander that he will kill ten prisoners for every one who tries to escape, which provides a great degree of tension as some of the men grow more and more desperate to free themselves from the horrendous camp conditions. The underground Filipino resistance, led by American Margaret Utinsky (Connie Nelson) constantly tries to smuggle food and medicine into the camp while avoiding detection by the Japanese. There were several highly suspenseful scenes involving these characters, as the Japanese eventually begin to discover the identities of the underground members.

The raid itself was very exciting to watch, and since the audience witnesses the actual planning stage of the attack, it was easy to follow what was happening. Nearly 800 Japanese were killed during the raid compared to only two American soldiers and 21 Filipino guerillas, which is in fact historically accurate. Throughout the course of the film, the director (John Dahl) does a good job following the separate groups involved with the raid, so the movie can therefore feature several powerful scenes that depict the more disturbing aspects of war.

I definitely liked The Great Raid, and I recommend it for anyone who enjoys war movies or anything based on historical events. The battle scenes were exceptionally well done, and the close inspection of the characters allowed the audience to become invested in the outcome. This particular rescue mission is considered to be the most successful in American history, and I believe that the movie does it justice. It demonstrates both the significance of the event as well as the importance of the people involved with it, and while it might not resonate quite as strongly as other movies of its kind, I found it to be very worthwhile.