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To end all wars

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Movie propaganda

In a jungle war of survival, they learned sacrifice. In a prison of brutal confinement, they found true freedom.

A true story about four allied POWs who endure harsh treatment at the hands of their Japanese captors during World War II while being forced to build a rail-road through the Burmese jungle. Ultimately they find true freedom by forgiving their enemies.

At the height of World War II, Singapore is invaded by victorious Japanese armed forces. A small group of retreating allied soldiers, led by Lieutenant Colonel Stuart McLean (James Cosmo), Major Ian Campbell (Robert Carlyle), Captain Ernest Gordon (Ciarán McMenamin), and Lieutenant Jim Reardon (Kiefer Sutherland), is captured and led to a prison camp deep within the jungles of Burma-Siam.

Upon arriving at the camp the POWs are forced by the Japanese to build a rail-road through treacherous jungle wilderness. Escape is their first priority, but when their commanding officer, Colonel McLean, is ruthlessly killed by the Japanese head guard, the men are left to themselves without a leader.

Major Campbell, the Colonel's second in command, rises to the challenge and starts planning a suicidal take-over of the camp by the prisoners. His greatest obstacle is loss of morale caused by slave labour, starvation, disease and brutal beatings.

Led by the example of British POW Dusty Miller (Mark Strong), Ernest decides to start a college of liberal arts and a "church without walls" within the camp. The prisoners begin to regain their dignity and hope, but they are also encouraged to forgive their enemies and sacrifice themselves for their fellow POWs.

Soon Gordon and his school are in conflict with Campbell's planned coup d'état. The rival values lead to split loyalties within the camp, and reveal that amidst so much physical suffering, the most treacherous war is the one fought within.

Theatrical propaganda posters

Target demographic movie keyword propaganda

Film POW prisoner of war Japan Australia Singapore Burma jungle treatment slave labour escape prison

Persons of interest

Robert Carlyle .... Major Ian Campbell
Ciarán McMenamin .... Captain Ernest Gordon
Kiefer Sutherland .... Lieutenant Jim Reardon
Mark Strong .... Dusty Miller
James Cosmo .... Lieutenant Colonel Stuart McLean
Sakae Kimura .... Ito
Masayuki Yui .... Noguchi
John Gregg .... Doctor Coates
Shu Nakajima .... Nagatomo
Yugo Saso .... Takashi Nagase
Pip Torrens .... Foxworth
Adam Sinclair .... Jocko
Winton Nicholson .... Duncan
Greg Ellis .... Primrose
James McCarthy .... Norman
Brendan Cowell .... Wallace Hamilton
Ernest Gordon .... Author
Brian Godawa .... Screenwriter
David L Cunningham .... Director

Cinematic intelligence sources

To end all wars official movie site
See also Changi, Kokoda, Rescue dawn

Intelligence analyst

Secret Agent Acid Thunder

Theatrical report

To end all wars is a War film.

I like war films and I wish more of them were made. Sometimes. Sometimes, they get produced with no thought processes or money coffers. Sometimes, one gets a film like To end all wars: plenty of potential, stopping short of the mark by a metre or so.

Kiefer Sutherland was... ok. Not the best that I have seen from him on the silver screen. Robert Carlyle was as good as I have seen him in the past. He's not my favourite, but he's not on my "no-go-see" list either. Charlton Heston is.

Anyway, I didn't like this movie, because it did not make me feel like I was in Thailand. I didn't feel any emotion for these people. I think that just because every veteran has a story to tell, does not make it worthy of the motion picture industry. Book? Absolutely, because the individual can use their imagination; but once it is put on the big screen, it's dead meat. Doesn't do well to see it through someone else's eyes, unless they have pretty good vision.