L'Honneur suprême

There is one big, big lesson EVERY warrior needs to learn before doing battle - never, as in NEVER - volunteer information. John Howard's big mouth got them all killed. It freaked me out that he would volunteer anything to the enemy - the truth will NOT set you free. Up until his faux paux - it had the making of a good movie. Showing both sides of the coin was good & incisive. But - the ultimate deterioration of this movie came when Howard admits everything - as if a "confession" will help matters. If it weren't for that stupidity - it would have been a good movie. At best - I can only stomach parts of this movie - and stop at the dumb part. WHat else can I say - he cooked his own goose & his team mates with him. The guy i dumber than dirt - if that's at all possible. Care to talk - I'm at ml2348@att.com

I saw this Australian film about 10 years ago and have never forgotten it. The movie shows the horror of war in a way that Hollywood usually glosses over. The relationship between the soldiers of the two warring countries is highlighted by the differences in culture and the ultimate knowledge that in the end we are all really not different on the inside. If you can find any type of copy of this--buy or rent it. You won't be disappointed, just awed.

Some war movies succeed where others do not, and that can be judged from a variety of angles. The humanistic angle, one where you can feel the raw emotions (the terror of being under attack, the camaraderie amongst soldiers, the arduous trials people face inside them when in combat, etc..) are always movies I find compelling. Movies like Das Boot and A Midnight Clear are but two examples of movies that you sense a connection to the characters in the film.

This film succeeds on that level as well. It speaks of "The Highest Honor" and that honor is doing the right thing. These 23 soldiers did the right thing, they had honor and it is recognized in a way wholly incompatible with Western thought, but it is, to the very end, a true story of honor. Unforgettable movie. Based on the true story.

I was overtaken by the emotion. Unforgettable rendering of a wartime story which is unknown to most people. The performances were faultless and outstanding.

It's been so long since I've seen this movie (at least 15 years) and yet it still haunts me with a vivid image of the horrific consequences that prisoners of war can face despite the terms of the Geneva Convention.

A unit of Australian underwater demolitions experts are captured in an archipelago near Japan following a successful mission to set mines in a Japanese harbor.

Once in prison these men expect the same treatment as any other POWs but to their dismay soon learn from a friendly Japanese prison guard that they are being tried as spies since they were out of uniform when captured. The consequences of such an infraction, by Japanese martial code, is execution by beheading.

Despite their pleas, and the pleas of the sympathetic prison guard, the day of reckoning approaches like a ticking time bomb. The tension is so high you will actually hear the ticking, though it may just be your chest pounding with the percussion of a marching execution squad.

The ending is actually too painful to reenact in my head much less write it here. But I can promise you-- you'll never forget it. Good luck finding the video in the U.S.