Task: Story Composition
Input (English): Fact1: Japanese forced unconditional surrender of British, Fact2: movie recounts through pages of diary traumatic experiences of himself and comrades as POWs in Kinkaseki POW camp, Fact3: film flashes between story of camp and Wheeler ’s family life before and after war as well as interviews of survivors giving perspectives of events described by Wheeler, Fact4: protagonist is portrayed as major reason both physically and mentally, Fact5: other British POWs survived major reason
Output (English): Major Ben Wheeler was a Canadian doctor assigned to Singapore when the Japanese forced an unconditional surrender of the British in 1942. The movie recounts, through the pages of his diary, the traumatic experiences of himself and his comrades as POWs in the Kinkaseki POW camp a mining labour camp in northern Taiwan. The story is conveyed from two perspectives: the narration of Ben Wheeler’s diary by Donald Sutherland with dramatized scenes of life in the camp and archival footage of related events, and the vivid, personal stories of Dr. Wheelers surviving fellow POWs. The film flashes between the story of the camp and Wheeler’s family life before and after the war, as well as interviews of the survivors giving perspectives of the events described by Dr Wheeler. Dr Wheeler is the protagonist who is portrayed as the major reason the other British POWs survived, both physically and mentally. This is affirmed by his overarching concern for his men in his writing, other than longing for his wife and family, with the exception of his love and longing for his family. Evidence of feats, compassion and selflessness are also abundantly given by the interviewees, who all owed their lives to him. Although the Japanese captors are no doubt the cruel and humiliating antagonists, the film does not demonize them. In fact, the final interviewee provides some insightful revelation on how he and his comrades perceive their captors, and the effect of his experience on his life.