Celluloid Heroes

Winners make the rules, losers play by them.

This is easily the best Jessica Alba movie I’ve seen this week. Since the only competition was the underwhelming Fantastic Four, that wasn’t exactly a major hurdle, but unlike the misfired superhero flick, Into The Blue manages to hit exactly the target it was aiming at. It’s an expertly handled thriller than makes maximum use of its Caribbean locations and the physical charms of its actors. Every one of the four leads is pretty, so whatever your gender or orientation, there is something nice to look at.

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Henry, I’ll be honest with you. This mission appeals more to my heart than to my head.

The January 30, 1945, raid by U.S. Army Rangers on the Japanese POW camp outside the city of Cabanatuan was not a decisive battle for World War II in the Pacific. It didn’t capture any vital territory or even hasten the Japanese surrender by one day. However, by bringing home over 500 Americans imprisoned since the Bataan Death March, it served to right what many still felt was a national disgrace, the abandonment of thousands of American and Filipino soldiers to three years of hellish captivity at Japanese hands. This mission, along with the assault on the cliffs of Pointe du Hoc on D-Day, also helped cement the Rangers reputation.

The Great Raid is a remarkably faithful film version of the historical events, covering the five days leading up to and following the daring rescue from the perspective of the soldiers who carried it out, the prisoners at Cabanatuan and the Philippine resistance that smuggled food and medicine to the prisoners at severe peril to their own lives.

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