To End All Wars: Fight for Freedom

In a Japanese POW camp, a Scottish band of soldiers learns about a very different culture - the hard way. They also learn from the more refined and educated among them the meaning of serving each other and their enemies, to the point of self-sacrifice.

The film begins rather slowly (and overly-sentimental) but becomes an incredible story with great acting and characters, powerful philosophy and imagery. Many gripping moments of self-realization, facing reality and appreciation for life and death. The depth of relationships, self-sacrifice and lessons learned leaves the audience with a lot to process. Overall, very inspiring and well-made.

Most of the reviews I've read of this film use the word "powerful" to describe it, and I will too. It's powerful because it's realistic; no stereotyped good guys or bad guys here (it's based on a true story, after all), and yet plenty of cruelty and some kindness, which leads to an exploration of themes such as justice and mercy in a way that (at last) doesn't lead to boredom or cynicism. It's *not* a light relief to watch this -- but nor was Schindler's List, possibly the only other prison-camp movie which matches this one for exploration of human motivation and hope.

Oh, and it stars a crop of very respectable (and largely British) actors. Why, oh why has this never had a cinema release in the UK?

i saw this film as i tend to like films of this type about humanitarian stories, the fact that this one is true actual events made it even more powerful for me. it truly does bring home the facts of what the men from ww11 endured to make our world today as free as it is, and it is films like this one that should be shown as part of history curriculum in high schools. the film was brilliant, brutal, honest, extremely well acted, filmed and managed to touch me to the point of tears. Robert Carlyle was fantastic, as were the rest of the leads, i would give this film 9 out of 10 simply because 10 out of 10 would be perfection and perfection does not exist.

THROUGH THE VALLEY OF THE KWAI, the story of British POW's forced to build the Japanese jungle railroad, was my favorite book when it came out in 1962. Thus I was a bit apprehensive at what filmmakers would do to it when I heard about TO END ALL WARS, the title itself being changed. The film is different in many ways from the book, but is so powerful that the addition (apparently for dramatic excitement) of fictional characters bent on staging an escape can be forgiven. Agnostic Ernest Gordon's story of his being nursed back from the brink of death by Christian friends, thereby starting him on the road to faith--and incredibly, understanding and then forgiveness of the harsh brutality of his Japanese captors--raises this film far above any other WW2 films that I have seen (except perhaps the under-rated THE THIN RED LINE, like TO END...also filled with philosophical questions and ruminations). Although the brutality of the Japanese bushito system is shown in all its horrific brutality, some of the Japanese, especially the young man who serves as interpreter, are depicted as having touch of humanity. The film's central thesis seems to depict the affects of clinging to anger and vengeance versus seeking to be able to forgive and reconcile. The latter is shown at the end of the film when, similar to the scene in SCHINDLER'S LIST, the real Capt. Ernest Gordon and Japanese interpreter Nagase, now old men, meet and shake hands in Thailand at a memorial to those who died building the railroad. The creativity of the men, forming a Jungle University where Plato and Shakespeare are taught, is celebrated, calling to mind the inspiring film of women POW's, PARADISE ROAD.

When this thought-inspiring film finally is released to theaters or video, don't miss it. It can serve as an antidote to the dozens of mindless, vengeance-based flicks cluttering up the screens of our cinemaplexes.

What if I told you you will watch a war film but won't see so many war scenes? Would you believe me? Would you say "this can't be a war film!"? Well, believe me, TO END ALL WARS is this film! It's a very good WAR film where shots and guns are not seen very much. Maybe this movie should be named a "drama war" or anything like a "military drama". But let alone the genre. The important thing is to enjoy this nice movie with a different development: a Scottish group of soldiers are sent to Thailand to fight the Japanese force but ends up being kept as captive. The soldiers are forced to build a railway for the Japanese but some of them plan to escape from that hell. When they're together at night, they discuss what to do for their future but they don't seem to agree about it. The discussions (and arguments) arise and each of the prisoners defends his point of view. The acting is very good and our attention is 100% towards the story.