Great Story

Rating: 9/10 (13 February 2007)

What a very uplifting story! I enjoyed the movie very much. It was pretty true to the story in the book "Ghost Soldiers" by Hampton Sides. I read the book before the movie, and was glad I did. That book is superb with many more details than the movie about all three aspects of the story, i.e., the POWs, the underground in Manila and the countryside, and the raiding party. Just the scene alone about crawling up to the compound is full of details and suspense in the book. The trip back to friendly lines was also very good with many details about problems encountered, including a separate group of bad Phillipino rebels that hindered their return. I thought the acting and rescue scenes in the movie were excellent. I was also very pleasantly surprised by the real-life film footage just before the credits. The book covers that well in the epilogue. Also, the rangers took a film crew with them during the operation, but the film crew could not film the rescue operation itself due to darkness. You could see some of the film taken when they were returning to friendly lines and afterwards.