History Film / TheGreatRaid

* AssholeVictim: Given the number of atrocities he partook in and ordered against American prisoners, no one would feel sorry for Lt. Hikobe after he is shot repeatedly by Wojo.

* BigBad: Lt. Hikobe of the Kempeitai is this, being the one tasked by Japanese Army High Command to execute the American prisoners at Cabanatuan should the Allies get close to liberating them. He also takes over command of the Cabanatuan prison camp after the original Japanese Army soldiers guarding the place pull out of the area.

* TheDragon: Sergeant Shigeno is this for Lt. Hikobe, helping his superior officer carry out the orders to execute the American prisoners at Cabanatuan and later prevent the Rangers from rescuing the former.

* HonorBeforeReason: Hikobe and Shigeno are full of this once the Rangers begin their raid on the Cabanatuan Prison Camp. [[spoiler:Both of them completely disregard their personal safety after most of their troops are killed in an attempt to try and inflict casualties to the Rangers and prisoners.]]

* OhCrap: When the Kempeitai military secret police move into the camp.
* POWCamp: Yet another example of a Japanese camp where you don't want to be a camper.

* RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil: It's implied that the Japanese ''Kempeitei'' sexually abused Margaret Utinsky while she was locked up. In real life, Utinsky was gang-raped dozens of times by interrogators and guards for over a month.

* VillainOpeningScene: The first scene of the film has Hikobe and Shigeno executing a number of American prisoners at the Palawan Prison Camp via gasoline canisters and machine gun fire.

* HonorBeforeReason: Again the Japanese POW camp commanding officer. [[spoiler: He completely disregards personal safety after most his troops are killed to try to inflict casualties to the Rangers and prisoners.]]

* ColdBloodedTorture: A starving American prisoner is tied to a post, savagely beaten, and left to die in the tropical heat in the first ten minutes. Just a small taste of TruthInTelevision. In real life, the Imperial Japanese Army was ''much worse''.

* SecretPolice: The Kempeitai, who utilize brutal torture and enforcement methods on enemy prisoners and suspected guerrillas alike.

* BittersweetEnding: The raid is successfully pulled off [[spoiler:but Major Gibson, the central character amongst the [=POWs=], dies to complications of disease and torture shortly before it happens.]]

* KickTheDog: Numerous. All of them are TruthInTelevision, as the Japanese in WWII [[{{Understatement}} weren't exactly known for sticking to the Geneva Convention]].

* ObligatoryWarCrimeScene: Numerous throughout the film. Most notably, the opening scene, in which [=POWs=] are herded into supposed air raid shelters and burned alive, provides the impetus for attempting the eponymous raid. Tragically, this scene is based on the actual [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palawan_massacre Palawan Massacre.]]

* WeaponsUnderstudies: In order to provide cover for the Rangers as they make the final approach to the camp, an airplane is sent to overfly the area to distract the Japanese, allowing them to get into position without being spotted. This occurred during the historic raid, in which a P-61 Black Widow night fighter was sent under orders to alter his power settings to make it sound from the ground as if he were experiencing an engine failure. However there are no remaining airworthy P-61s, so instead the film utilized a Lockheed PV Ventura light bomber for this scene.

The film opens in September 1944, with the Pacific War turning against Japan's favor. Increasingly desperate, the Japanese Army high command issues an order to liquidate all of its Prisoner-Of-War camps in their occupied territories in the event that an American invasion is likely. We then cut to one of these camps in the Philippines, where American prisoners are hoarded into makeshift air-raid shelters and then executed by being lit on fire and being shot with machine-guns. The next scene takes place in January, 1945, in the wake of the successful landings by the US Army at Lingayen, where Lt. Col Henry Mucci and his 6th Ranger Battalion are tasked with rescuing American [=POWs=] held in Cabanatuan, before the Japanese can repeat what they did only a few months prior. The problem, however, is that the camp in question is hundreds of miles behind enemy lines and that the Japanese have a strong garrison located in the nearby towns. With the help of Alamo Scouts and [[LaResistance Filipino guerillas]], the Rangers set out on their mission to liberate the [=POWs=].

* HonorBeforeReason: Again the Japanese POW camp commanding officer. [[spoiler: he completely disregards personal safety after most his troops are killed to try to inflict casualties to the Rangers and prisoners.]]
* JungleWarfare: Averted with the Rangers, who engage the Japanese at the POW camp located in an open field. Played straight with the Filipino Guerillas, who fight the Japanese in the thick vegetation just outside Cabanatuan.

* ObligatoryWarCrimeScene: Numerous throughout the film. Most notably, the opening scene, in which [=POWs=] are herded into supposed air raid shelters and burned alive, provides the impetus for attempting the titular raid. Tragically, this scene is based on actual events.
** The event in question in this incident is real, it is called [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palawan_massacre The Palawan Massacre.]]

* {{Ranger}}: The US Army's 6th Ranger battalion is tasked with leading the titular raid.

* TerrifyingRescuer: Many prisoners don't realize the rangers are friendly because after being brutalized for so long, they're afraid it's another Japanese trick to get them "disciplined."

* ZergRush: [[spoiler: After the bridge is partially damaged, the Japanese reinforcements try to rush through it to reach the POW camp and get massacred by the Filipino guerrilla fighters.]]

A 2005 film, directed by John Dahl and starring Creator/BenjaminBratt, Creator/JamesFranco, Creator/ConnieNielsen, and Creator/JosephFiennes, about the real life rescue of UsefulNotes/WorldWarII [=POW=]s by American Rangers from the notorious Japanese prison camp of Cabanatuan.

The film opens in September 1944, with the Pacific War turning against Japan's favor. Increasingly desperate, the Japanese Army high command issues an order to liquidate all of its Prisoner-Of-War camps in their occupied territories in the event that an American invasion is likely. We then cut to one of these camps in the Philippines, where American prisoners are hoarded into makeshift air-raid shelters and then executed by being lit on fire and being shot with machine-guns. The next scene takes place in January, 1945, in the wake of the successful landings by the US Army at Lingayen, where Lt. Col Henry Mucci and his 6th Ranger Battalion are tasked with rescuing American [=POWs=] held in Cabanatuan, before the Japanese can repeat what they did only a few months prior. The problem, however, is that the camp in question is hundreds of miles behind enemy lines, and that the Japanese have a strong garrison located in the nearby towns. With the help of Alamo Scouts and [[LaResistance Filipino guerillas]], the Rangers set out on their mission to liberate the [=POWs=].

* RaceLift: The Catholic Monsignor in Manila who helped the Filipino resistance and sheltered Margaret Utinsky was actually German. He was strongly antifascist and vehemently opposed the Nazis and the Imperial Japanese. The screenwriters felt that the exposition of his background would be distracting, so they just made him Irish in the movie.

* SecretPolice: The Kempeitai, who utilize brutal torture and enforcement methods on enemy prisoners and suspected guerillas alike.

* WeaponsUnderstudies: In order to provide cover for the Rangers as they make the final approach to the camp, an airplane is sent to overfly the area to distract the Japanese, allowing them to get into position without being spotted. This occurred during the historical raid, in which a P-61 Black Widow night fighter was sent under orders to alter his power settings to make it sound from the ground as if he were experiencing an engine failure. However there are no remaining airworthy P-61s, so instead the film utilized a Lockheed PV Ventura light bomber for this scene.

* ZergRush: [[spoiler: After the bridge is partially damaged, the Japanese reinforcements try to rush through it to reach the POW camp and get massacred by the Filipino guerrila fighters.]]

The film opens in September 1944, with the Pacific War turning against Japan's favor. Increasingly desperate, the Japanese Army high command issues an order to liquidate all of its Prisoner-Of-War camps in their occupied territories in the event that an American invasion is likely. We then cut to one of these camps in the Philippines, where American prisoners are hoarded into makeshift air-raid shelters and then executed by being lit on fire and being shot with machine-guns. The next scene takes place in January, 1945, in the wake of the successful landings by the US Army at Lingayen, where Lt. Col Henry Mucci and his 6th Ranger Battalion are tasked with rescuing American [=POWs=] held in Cabanatuan, before the Japanese can repeat what they did only a few months prior. The problem, however, is that the camp in question is hundreds of miles behind enemy lines, and that the Japanese have a strong garrison located in the nearby towns. With the help of Alamo Scouts and Filipino guerillas, the Rangers set out on their mission to liberate the [=POWs=].

* ActorAllusion: MaxMartini as an [[Series/TheUnit Army Ranger]].
* BasedOnATrueStory:

The film opens in September 1944, with the Pacific War turning against Japan's favor. Increasingly desperate, the Japanese Army high command issues an order to liquidate all of its Prisoner-Of-War camps in their occupied territories in the event that an American invasion is likely. We then cut to one of these camps in the Philippines, where American prisoners are hoarded into makeshift air-raid shelters and then executed by being lit on fire and being shot with machine-guns. The next scene takes place in January, 1945, in the wake of the successful landings by the US Army at Lingayen, where Lt. Col Henry Mucci and his 6th Ranger Battalion are tasked with rescuing American [=POWs=] held in Cabanatuan, before the Japanese can repeat what they did only a few months prior.

* ForTheEvulz: The Japanese issue an order that involves killing all Allied [=POWs=] in the event that Allied forces are close to capturing the camps they're held in, for apparently no gain.

A 2005 film, directed by John Dahl and starring Creator/BenjaminBratt, Creator/JamesFranco, Creator/ConnieNielsen, and Creator/JosephFiennes, about the real life rescue of UsefulNotes/WorldWarII [=POW=]s by American Rangers from the notorious Japanese prison camp of Cabanatuan. Despite the inherent drama, the film did not do well at the box office.

* UsefulNotes/FilipinosWithFirearms: Filipino resistance fighters, led by Captain Juan Pajota and Captain Eduardo Joson[[note]]Both Filipino officers and several of their guerillas were American-trained members of the Philippine National Army who had fought under [[UsefulNotes/DouglasMacarthur [=MacArthur=]]] at Bataan. Unlike the Americans, they were able to avoid capture in 1942 by blending in with the civilian population when necessary, hitting the Japanese whenever and wherever they could. The Filipino Resistance was very effective during the war, inflicting significant casualties and tying down tens of thousands of Japanese troops that were sorely needed elsewhere[[/note]], aid the Rangers. In fact, the largest pitched battle in the movie, as in real life, is Pajota's force holding the bridge against a [[ZergRush massed assault]] by Japanese tanks and infantry.

* ZergRush: [[spoiler: After the bridge is partially damaged, the Japanese reinforcement try to rush through it to reach the POW camp and get massacred by the Filipino guerrila fighters.]]