One of the best films of the Year

Rating: 9/10 (6 August 2005)

John Dahl has done his share of good films over the years but none of them came close to this film about American POW's being held in Japan and the soldier's that risked everything to get them out.
Knowing the history of what these men went through, you go into the film expecting to see images that will be hard to watch. You do see these but they don't go over the top, they show you the hardships that these men faced and the intensity of the battle sequences put you right in the middle of everything.
The cinematography is worth mentioning. It was interesting how they kept the image slightly over exposed in the background to focus you in more and more on the actor's. It made this film about the people and not the spectacle, which is obviously how this film was intended.
The performances were good all around. Franco and Brat are both talented performers that fit well into there perspective parts. The stand out in this film for me was Joseph Fiennes as a POW who kept command of his troops and did his best to help them through while he fought his own battle with malaria. His physical performance was superb and he made you feel what his character was feeling.
When I was waiting to get into this film, I talked to an elderly man who showed up a little after me. I learned that he was a POW in Germany for a year in WW2. After the film, all they had to say was how powerful it was, and what an affect it had. The film showed these men as just that, men. Great men that were willing to sacrifice everything for there fellow soldier's, for there brother's in arm's. As they said in the trailer, "there is a price for freedom, a price that some are willing to pay." All of these men were willing to pay that price.