During World War II, a small band of volunteers with minimal combat experience penetrated deep behind enemy lines to rescue 500 prisoners of war from the infamous Cabanatuan POW camp, where the Japanese brutalized and murdered thousands. But the soldiers who rescued the POWs, and the men and women of the Philippine underground who risked their lives to provide quinine and other medicines to those prisoners, deserve a better tribute than this tepid clunker. The Great Raid fails to capture what must have been a harrowing experience for the soldiers, or to inspire us with admiration for their bravery.

The volunteers are led by Lt. Colonel Mucci (Benjamin Bratt). We know he is in charge because he carries a pipe rather than a rifle, and wears a different hat from everyone else in the group. (Fortunately, there were no Japanese snipers around to notice this.) Mucci’s second in command, Captain Prince (James Franco), is the brains behind the raid. Apparently his role is to inform us of Mucci’s courage and bravura, and to allude to a mentor-protégé relationship that’s on the fritz.

The prisoners themselves are led by Major Gibson (Joseph Fiennes). Though reference is made to Gibson’s leadership abilities, none are displayed. For much of the film he suffers from malaria, and is either struggling to stand up or shivering uncontrollably in bed. When conscious, he pines over his unconsummated relationship with his distant love.

It turns out that that love, Margaret Utinsky (Connie Nielsen), is not so distant. A foreign national who has stayed behind in Manila because she cannot bear to leave Gibson, she is also head of the Philippine underground. It is Utinsky and her group who are responsible for smuggling medicines to the prisoners during their trips from the camp when they pick up supplies.

The major problem with director John Dahl’s treatment of the historical events is that much of the story does not appear onscreen but is only alluded to. Consequently, we are not shown enough to believe in the strength of the love affair, we see no indication of Major Gibson’s leadership skills, and nothing in his actions suggests that Lt. Colonel Mucci is a great soldier. In fact, the film is actually three disparate stories, none of which seems complete. I can only surmise that the scenes in Cabanatuan and the depictions of the cruelty of the secret police in Manila serve only to display Japanese savagery and inflame the audience. The Great Raid is populated with undeveloped characters, unnecessary scenes, and dialogue that is just plain silly. The film is accompanied by Trevor Rabin’s incessantly rousing musical score, which is meant to elicit emotions that the action and the dialogue do not.

This is a disappointing film from John Dahl, who has directed some fine films in the past. For better treatments of similar subject matter, watch David Lean’s The Bridge on the River Kwai or Billy Wilder’s Stalag 17.

• Go Back