Wednesday, December 17, 2014

THE GREAT RAID




The Great Raid

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Great Raid
Theatrical poster
Directed byJohn Dahl
Produced byLawrence Bender
Marty Katz
Written byCarlo Bernard
Doug Miro
StarringBenjamin Bratt
Joseph Fiennes
James Franco
Marton Csokas
Connie Nielsen
Motoki Kobayashi
Cesar Montano
Kenny Doughty
Music byTrevor Rabin
CinematographyPeter Menzies Jr.
Edited byScott Chestnut
Pietro Scalia
Distributed byMiramax Films
Release dates
  • August 10, 2005 (U.S.)
  • August 12, 2005
Running time132 minutes
CountryUnited States
Australia
LanguageEnglish
Budget$80 million
Box office$10,769,311[1]
The Great Raid is a 2005 war film about the Raid at Cabanatuan on the island of LuzonPhilippines during World War II. It is directed by John Dahland stars Benjamin BrattJoseph FiennesJames FrancoConnie Nielsen, Motoki Kobayashi and Cesar Montano. The principal photography took place from July 4, to November 6, 2002, but its release was delayed several times from the original target of fall 2003. The film is adapted from two books,William Breuer's The Great Raid on Cabanatuan and Hampton SidesGhost Soldiers.
The film opened in theaters across the United States on August 12, 2005, three days before the 60th anniversary of V-J Day.
The real-life efforts of Filipino guerrillas are also specifically highlighted, especially a stand at a bridge that delayed Japanese reinforcements. These units fought alongside Americans against Japanese occupiers during the war.

Plot[edit]

In 1944, American forces were closing in on the Japanese-occupied Philippines. The Japanese held around 500 American prisoners who had survived the Bataan Death March in a notorious POW camp at Cabanatuanand subjected them to brutal treatment and summary execution. Many prisoners were also stricken with malaria.
The film opens with the massacre of prisoners of war on Palawan by theKempeitai, the Imperial Japanese military's secret police (though factually, it was committed by the Japanese Fourteenth Area Army).
Meanwhile at Lingayen Gulf, the 6th Ranger Battalion under Lt. Col Mucci is ordered by Lt. Gen. Walter Krueger to liberate all of the POWs at Cabanatuan prison camp before they are killed by the Japanese. The film chronicles the efforts of the Rangers, Alamo Scouts from the 6th Army and Filipino guerrillas as they undertake the Raid at Cabanatuan.
Throughout the film, the viewpoint switches between the POWs at Cabanatuan, the Rangers, the Filipino resistance and the Japanese.
In particular, the film covers the resistance work undertaken by nurse Margaret Utinsky, who smuggled medicine into the POW camps. The Kempeitai arrested her and sent her to Fort Santiago prison. She was eventually released, but spent six weeks recovering from gangrene as a result of injuries sustained from beatings.

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