Great Raid

Great Raid, The
$19.95
I was disappointed in this book for 2 main reasons.
I had read Ghost Soldiers: The Epic Account of World War II's Greatest Rescue Mission by
Hampton Sides and had assumed this would be another book about the raid. So I was very disappointed to find three quarters of the book covered the war in the Philippines prior to the raid. I understand that this information was important to give the groundwork and reason for the raid but three quarters of the book??
Mr. Breuer seemed to be determined to lionize Douglas MacArthur and blame Roosevelt and Washington for not reinforcing him when the Japanese invaded the Philippines. I don't claim to be an expert but I remember that the US military ran war games in the early 1920s and determined that they could not defend and reinforce the Philippines if the Japanese invaded. Considering he was the army chief of staff during the Hoover administration, I find it a bit of a stretch that he was not aware of this war planning. Second he seemed to amazed how ill-prepared the Filipino army was - wasn't a special military to the Filipino president?
Mr Breuer rightly gave credit to General MacArthur for his hitting the Japanese where they weren't; a strategy which saved many American lives. But to make a disparaging comparison about Eisenhower and the D Day invasion on Normandy was inappropriate. The reason that MacArthur's strategy worked so well, was that he controlled the air and seas preventing the Japanese from responding. Hitler was very able to shift his troops in Europe to counter any allied invasion.
I read the book because I wanted to know more about the raid, but would not recommend it.
Marty Ford

The Great Raid (Widescreen Director's Cut)
$39.99
Nothing to add to the complete summaries in some reviews and the general approval with which they approach the film. It follows the traditional pattern of American War films but the action sequences and underplayed roles gave it a feeling of authenticity not always found in the genre. While the action is heated for only a short while, it sparks the picture. The acting is nicely underplayed allowing no room for a shift of attention from the roles played to the actors playing them. Admirably, despite having 60 years distance from the events, the creative staff managed to keep its focus on the perspective one might have had watching this film during that war when we knew that men and women were still to be sacrificed to the megalomania of a leadership group striving to make their nation the center of THE ONLY great Pacific power. So far as I could tell, while there was a need for fictionalization of precise facts and figures, the more general picture was as it might well have been.
All in all, this is a picture which grips one and also reminds us that neither the European nor the Pacific allies of the Axis fought by Marquis of Queens-berry rules. The result was, as is almost always the case: their unrestrained brutality brought a much greater unrestrained brutality on the part of the United States and its allies. Real wars generate real hatred for the enemy.
I should mention that there is little in the film to disturb younger viewers. While not a family picture, it can be seen by the family which might take on some of the questions which it raises in our minds.

The Great Raid (Collector's Series)
$30.99
"The Great Raid" (2005) wasn't a great box office success. That's a sad surprise! This is a very good film. Director John Dahl, with only nine films in his curricula (mostly crime films) has delivered his best film up to today. His rhythm sense is very acute and follows at least three converging threads: the rescue party, the POW camp and the Filipino resistance movement. All of them add to the general plot without distracting spectator's attention.

The story is based on real facts. As notices arrive to GHQ that POWs are being massacred by their Japanese captor; a Rangers rescue party is launched in a critic path. The movie narrates the forming and marching, deep into enemy lines, of the rescue column. It describes the everyday life at the POW camp, with all the inmates nearing starvation and in horrible humanitarian conditions. Last but not least shows the Filipino underground movement helping the POWs with medicines, providing the USA Army with information and harassing the fleeing Japanese forces.
Movie's climax arrives naturally, without tricks, yet transmitting all the tension and vibration of the epic!

Playacting is restrained without over dramatization. Joseph Finnes ("Shakespeare in Love) portrays POW's leading Officer Maj. Gibson; Connie Nielsen ("Gladiator") impersonates Margaret Utinsky a resistance leader; Benjamin Bratt as Lt. Col. Mucci, Max Martini as 1st Sgt. Wojo and James Franco as Capt. Prince complete the cast.
Japanese actors Masa Yamaguchi as Lt. Hikobe, Ken Senga as Col. Mori and Motoki Kobayashi as Maj. Nagai give a very realistic representation, far from usual stereotypes.

It is a gripping movie that gives no respite to the audience. If you are interested in WWII history or war movies you can't miss this one!
Reviewed by Max Yofre.

The Great Tokyo Air Raid
$19.99
When Sakuragi Haruko's father's factory is bombed, Oba Hiroto stops Haruko when she tries to rescue her father from the fire. They meet again a few years later when Haruko is working as a nurse and Hiroto is brought in as a patient with a heart condition. The second couple is a Korean man, Boku Hitoshi, and another nurse, Yamada Kazue.