From: timothy.smith1@att.net
Date: Sat Aug 13 2005 - 20:43:30 PDT
Yes, in the opening shots it was a little early in the war to see a jeep motoring about, especially *gasp!* not even a slat grill jeep, and *double-gasp!* especially wayyyy out in the Pacific somewhere! Of course if one REALLY wanted to nit-pick, some of the LBE gear was wrong (particularly suspenders, many of which were extremely late-war kit) and as already mentioned, their uniforms were WAY to green. While I can take credit for manufacturing the bazookas in this movie, I cannot lay claim to the nuclear-powered warheads they were firing...VERY John Woo!
Still, the toughest thing for me to swallow was the lack of character development and the flat, emotionless, formulaic performances by the actors. Even some of the finer points of movie-making / story-telling were overlooked. Take for example, the young priest who we leave with a Japanese pistol pointed at his head. We never see him shot and even though the next scene took us nearby, we never even hear the shot. That was left unresolved. Also note that in nearly the final scene, the tall blonde nurse (who only moments before had been trying mightily to squeeze out a tear for us in the audience so we could join with her in mourning her now-deceased-former-pow-boyfriend) is now Huzzah-ing with the crowd, and grinning like a chimpanzee as the airplanes roar overhead. I guess she got over it...so much for that.
Some of the small interesting tales within the tale never got into the script or were left on the cutting room floor. Take, for instance, the inmate who was deaf as a post and never caught on that everyone was being rescued and as a result, was overlooked and left behind for a short while (they had to go back for him.) Or the prisoners who were convinced that their rescuers were not REALLY Americans at all because they didn't recognize the uniforms (and in many cases they didn't recognize their rescuer's weapons! Now THAT'S interesting history!
Ghost Soldiers WAS a good book. I like it so much I even bought the audio book for travelling. However, if you REALLY want to get the feel of the place, I suggest you acquire, (not borrow) but acquire the book, CABANATUAN, Japanese Death Camp, by Vince Taylor (Texian Press, Waco Tx 1985). It would be a valuable addition to anyone's library and is a "must read".
Still, almost any WWII movie is a breath of fresh air whilst Hollywood is cranking out Matrixesque thrill rides one after another. I give it one thumb up, or three outta five jalapenos.
Regards,
TJ
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.4 : Fri Oct 28 2005 - 23:25:28 PDT