Wonderful

Rating: 9/10 (18 August 2005)

There are few adventure stories as great as this. The movie never flags - it uses its wonderfully large cast to perfect effect - everyone will have his favorite characters - the colors, the music, the sense of a wonderful adventure is just magnetic.
It is interesting to think of how VERY different this movie could have been in different screenwriters and directors' hands. It is easy to imagine a very dark movie about an escape plan for 250 spoiled so that it involved only 76, and of the 76, 60 massacred and only a very few escaping - a story of frustration, of man's hopes destroyed, of the darkness of life. It would be interesting to see such a version - perhaps something like The Piano or Schindler's List.
Instead somehow, the movie makes the viewer feel GREAT - vibrant, happy, enthusiastic, excited! It's remarkable that this story could be made to do this - I think much is due to the energy of a large group working with such dedication and teamwork, much is due to the wonderful music, much is due to the very attractiveness of the actors themselves.
For me, there is something terribly appealing about the David McCallum character, Ashley-Pitt - his sacrifice to save the leader (and thus the entire operation), his looks, his manner. And something very touching about the Garner-Pleasance characters operating in tandem. Attenborough is himself properly subdued, authoritative, commanding - and Jackson is an excellent sidekick.
I've always liked James Donald very much in everything - particularly as the conscience of The Bridge on the river Kwai - he's in the same form here.
If you have heard the term, the "Anglosphere" in recent years, one can see a vivid illustration of it here - the Australian-American-English-Scottish team working perfectly - with the same sense of values to be pursued and preserved, the same sense of humor, dedication.
This is just wonderful for anyone - but perhaps particularly for men since there aren't any women in it at all!