To End All Wars (2001)

6/10

A look at war through forgiveness

To End All Wars is a true story about four Allied POW's who endure harsh treatment from their Japanese captors during World War II while being forced to build a railroad through the Burmese jungle

This film explores how POW find their freedom through faith, belief and calm. Forgiving their captors and not exacting revenge.

To End All Wars is a very unique war films. Through the duration of the movie one does not feel anger or hatred but rather a feeling of pity towards the guards. Even watching the cruelty of the captors on the prisoners, the forgiveness of the prisoners overshadow any feelings of hate.   

The film didn't introduce the main character Ernest 'Ernie' Gordon as well as I had hoped. It was confusing in the first 20 minutes as to who the story centred around. The focus seems to jump from character to character and not really showing the relationship between people. I also had a hard time not seeing Kiefer Sutherland as Jack Bauer, which became distracting.

Some parts of the movie felt overdramatic and overdone (eg the ending where Campbell was beating up the guard). The exaggeration of events was unnecessary and did not help to emphasize the powerful message that underlines the film. It felt

Aside from some overdone scenes, this film is very well done, giving you a very different look at war.