The Great Raid: a movie review.

Tweet

The Great Raid is a 2005 movie I stumbled upon from out of the blue. Could have known about it the time it was released but never got to the theaters to watch. Or probably, it was not shown in local cinemas. I don't remember any longer. Starring Benjamin Pratt and James Franco in true-to-life roles, plus our own local thespian Cesar Montano as the leader of the guerillas, the Great Raid is World War II's most successful raid ever done during the repressive years of Imperial Japan's presence in the Philippines. Set in Cabanatuan where the American Prisoners of War, survivors of the infamous Bataan Death March, were incarcerated amid malaria and starvation, the movie depicts the agonizing existence of the POW's till the American forces finally landed again in Lingayen Gulf. A unit battalion of rangers were tasked to retrieve the POW's from the concentration camp with only the element of surprise and speed to their advantage. Fortunately, a local resistance known as the guerillas who had been toe to toe with the kempetai for three long years, offered assistance and aided the rangers in securing the bridge, providing local paragas or carabao driven carts for the POW's. Set at a time when a plan is executed faithfully as Time on Target, the nerve wracking scenes did capture the apprehension, the tension, the will, the determination, the courage, and the valor to win. No melodrama at all. Just a recreation of a story no one should forget.