To End All Wars
Picture: B- Sound: B- Extras: D Film: B-
The
revival of the War genre continues and that means the success of the revival is
getting projects greenlighted that otherwise would not. One of the most interesting and awkward is To End All Wars, made in 2001 and
finally issued theatrically in 2003. The
film stars (and is narrated by) Robert Carlyle as the most conscious observer
of the happenings in a Japanese P.O.W. camp.
This includes the unique behavior of an American loner soldier (Kiefer
Sutherland) and the increasingly horrendous treatment they endure at the hands
of brutal Japanese Militarist soldiers.
The
problem with the film is despite its R-rating, it is not brutal or brutally
honest enough about how bad these camps are, even by the admission of director
David L. Cunningham on his audio commentary.
It wants to be the warm, spiritual model of Spielberg’s filmmaking
without the brutal honesty of the first half-hour and final battle in Saving Private Ryan, which is a big
problem. The spiritual appeals get
silly, with the bookworm Christian, the translator who goes religious after the
war and even a crucifixion of a prisoner soldier that ruins any credibility the
film had, especially after Mel Gibson’s recent Passion outing.
The
reason to watch this film for all its problems is the cast of mostly unknowns
who mesh so well and are compelling to watch.
Sutherland is underrated and Carlyle did not see his career take off
after he played a mixed James Bond villain in The World Is Not Enough (1999), but deserves much more commercial
success. Instead of David Lean’s Bridge On The River Kwai (1957), which
this film cannot escape the shadow of, the soldiers are to build
railroads. Except for the good acting,
we have seen it all before.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.85 X 1 image was purposely desaturated to
“deglamourize it” as Cunningham explains.
Sadly, it instead adds a clichéd look to clichéd situations. Greg Gardiner’s cinematography is good and
involving, but not totally original. The
Dolby Digital 5.1 AC-3 mix is not bad, but not very dynamic either, though it
is better than the paired-down version on the awful pan & scan version on
the other side of the DVD. Besides the
aforementioned commentary track, the only other extra is a trailer for a
slasher film (???) and a behind-the-scenes documentary that is mixed at
best. To End All Wars claims to be based on a true story, which is valid
enough, but not totally so. By trying to
powder puff the ugly realities of the camp, it begs the “aw, it wasn’t that
bad” problem even Schindler’s List
runs into (i.e., they do not look sick enough to be in a concentration camp,
especially as compared to actual footage of said camps). Hopefully, next time Cunningham takes on a
serious subject like this, he will have the guts to go all the way.
- Nicholas Sheffo
