Line #15 Film/TheGreatRaid


1	[[quoteright:299:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/great_raid.jpg]]
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3	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.
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5	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 herded 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; 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 is that the Japanese have a strong garrison located in the towns near the camp in question, while the closest conventional American forces are still days away. With the help of Alamo Scouts and [[LaResistance Filipino guerillas]], the Rangers set out on their mission to liberate the [=POWs=].
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9	!!Contains examples of:
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11	* AntiVehicle: Both the Rangers and the Filipino guerillas are equipped with bazookas, which prove immensely useful late in the film when the Japanese in and around the camp attempt to send tanks against both their forces.
12	* ArtisticLicenceHistory: In the actual event, the raiders had a P-61 Black Widow night fighter overfly the camp, with the pilot adjusting his fuel settings to make it sound like he was having engine trouble, before [[BuzzingTheDeck passing low over the ground]] and disappearing behind a hill as if he were crashing, in order to distract the camp guards long enough for the raiders to get into position. In the movie, however, a Lockheed PV Ventura plays the role as the distraction, performing various aerial stunts. The reason for this is because there were no P-61 fighters in airworthy status at the time, meaning a few liberties had to be taken.
13	* AssholeVictim: Given the number of atrocities they partook in and ordered against American prisoners, no one would feel sorry for both Major Nagai and Lt. Hikobe as they are killed by the Rangers.
14	* BasedOnATrueStory: The story is based on the real-life [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raid_at_Cabanatuan Raid at Cabanatuan]], which took place in January 1945.
15	* BigBad: Major Nagai 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.
16	* 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. 1st Sergeant Wojo also dies from his wounds, and two other Rangers die during the raid.]]
17	* BuzzingTheDeck: Used as a way of distracting the guards while Allied forces got into position.
18	* ColdBloodedTorture: Both the Japanese Army and Kempeitai do this to this prisoners throughout the film.
19	** 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''.
20	** Margaret Utinsky's ordeal at the hands of the ''Kempeitei'' is heavily condensed and toned down. The real Utinsky was held for 32 days, beaten and gang-raped daily. On one day, five Filipino civilians were beheaded right in front of her. On another, an American [=POW=] was tied to the bars of her cell and beaten to death so violently that ''pieces of his flesh were lodged in her hair''.
21	* CurbStompBattle: Despite being outnumbered, outgunned, and TrappedBehindEnemyLines, the Rangers and Filipino guerillas manage to wipe out huge numbers of Japanese when the raid is finally pulled off, suffering minimal casualties in the process.
22	* {{Determinator}}: The Japanese commanding officer of the POW camp goes to ridiculous lengths to inflict more casualties after his men are massacred.
23	* TheDragon: Lt. Hikobe is this for Major Nagai, being the highest ranking subordinate and the one most often tasked with carrying out Nagai's orders.
24	* ElitesAreMoreGlamorous: Army Rangers and Army Alamo Scouts are the main US troops in charge with freeing the [=POWs=].
25	* 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 no gain other than to spite the Americans.
26	* HelmetsAreHardlyHeroic: None of the Rangers, Alamo Scouts, or Guerillas are seen wearing helmets, only caps, or no hats at all. Justified, since wearing them would most probably give away their position to Japanese patrols.
27	* HonorBeforeReason: Nagai and Hikobe 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.]]
28	* 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.
29	* KickTheDog: Numerous. All of them are TruthInTelevision, as the Japanese in WWII [[{{Understatement}} weren't exactly known for sticking to the Geneva Convention]]. The most prominent of these is the opening, where Japanese Army soldiers force American prisoners to dig air raid shelters, and then burn the prisoners inside of them with gasoline and shoot those that attempt to escape.
30	* LaResistance: The Filipino guerillas.
31	* LudicrousGibs: When the raid kicks off, the Japanese soldier at the main gate is hit by so many rifles simultaneously that his entire upper body disintegrates. Some may roll their eyes, but it [[RealityIsUnrealistic really did happen that way]].
32	* NobleBigot: While he is undoubtedly a hero, Lt. Col. Mucci is still a man of his time and displays a vehement dislike against atheists at the end of his speech informing the men of their mission. Some of his comments toward Capt. Pajota and his Filipino guerrillas were also patronizing.
33	* OhCrap:
34	** This is the general reaction of the American [=POWs=] when the Kempeitai military secret police move into the camp.
35	** Nagai and Hikobe themselves react this way once the Rangers begin the raid and catch them completely by surprise.
36	* POWCamp: Yet another example of a Japanese camp where you don't want to be a camper, with the American prisoners enduring ColdBloodedTorture, starvation, and mass execution.
37	* RaceLift: The Catholic Monsignor in Manila who helped the Filipino resistance and sheltered Margaret Utinsky was actually German. He was strongly anti-fascist 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.
38	* {{Ranger}}: The US Army's 6th Ranger battalion is tasked with leading the raid.
39	* RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil: It's implied that the Japanese ''Kempeitai'' 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.
40	* RealityIsUnrealistic: The huge disparity in casualties led some critics to lambast the film as unrealistic, even though the ''very'' few American and Filipino casualties was exactly what happened in the real raid.
41	** Some reviewers also criticized the Japanese atrocities for being too "over-the-top" in brutality, even racist, even though the the atrocities shown were ''much'' more toned down than what the Imperial Japanese military did in real life.
42	* SecretPolice: The Kempeitai, who are the Imperial Japanese Army's own military police and secret police force. During the film, they utilize brutal torture and enforcement methods on enemy prisoners and suspected guerrillas alike, and have both uniformed soldiers and plainclothes officers enforcing the Japanese occupation of the Philippines.
43	* TanksForNothing: The Japanese light and medium tanks prove to be virtually useless in aiding their infantry, thanks in part to the sheer surprise of the raid and the fact that the Rangers and guerillas have [[AntiVehicle Bazookas]] that can easily knock them out.
44	* 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."
45	** The US Army had changed its combat uniforms and much of its field gear by 1945. The Bataan survivors in the camp had never seen the current uniform, and thus didn't recognize the Rangers as Americans.
46	* TrappedBehindEnemyLines: The film takes place behind Japanese lines, where hundreds of American prisoners are threatened with execution, and their to-be rescuers are contending with having to sneak through 30 miles of enemy territory to get to them.
47	* UnspokenPlanGuarantee: [[spoiler: Averted. The actual raid goes pretty much as planned.]]
48	* VillainOpeningScene: The first scene of the film has Nagai and Hikobe executing a number of American prisoners at the Palawan Prison Camp via gasoline canisters and machine gun fire.
49	* WeNeedADistraction: An airplane is sent to overfly the camp to distract the guards, see WeaponsUnderstudies.

Context Film / TheGreatRaid