To End All Wars (2001)

A true story about four Allied POWs who endure harsh treatment from their Japanese captors during World War II while being forced to build a railroad through the Burmese jungle. Ultimately ... See full summary »

Director:

David L. Cunningham

Writers:

Ernest Gordon (book), Brian Godawa (screenplay)

Stars:

Robert Carlyle, Kiefer Sutherland, Ciarán McMenamin

3 wins & 4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Ciarán McMenamin	...	Capt. Ernest 'Ernie' Gordon
Robert Carlyle	...	Maj. Ian Campbell
Kiefer Sutherland	...	Lt. Jim 'Yankee' Reardon
Mark Strong	...	Dusty Miller
Yûgo Sasô	...	Takashi Nagase
Sakae Kimura	...	Sgt. Ito
James Cosmo	...	Lt. Col. Stuart McLean
Masayuki Yui	...	Capt. Noguchi
John Gregg	...	Camp Doctor Coates
Shû Nakajima	...	Nagatomo (as Shu Nakajima)
Greg Ellis	...	Sgt. Roger Primrose
Pip Torrens	...	Lt. Foxworth
James McCarthy	...	Norman
Brendan Cowell	...	Wallace Hamilton
Winton Nicholson	...	Duncan

Storyline

A true story about four Allied POWs who endure harsh treatment from their Japanese captors during World War II while being forced to build a railroad through the Burmese jungle. Ultimately they find true freedom by forgiving their enemies. Based on the true story of Ernest Gordon.

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Plot Keywords:

japanese prison camp | jungle | escape | tarsau burma | railway of death | 

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Taglines:

In a jungle war of survival, they learned sacrifice. In a prison of brutal confinement, they found true freedom.

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Genres:

Action | Drama | War

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for war violence and brutality, and for some language

Did You Know?

Trivia

According to the film's closing epilogue, after World War 2, Captain Ernest Gordon became Dean of the Chapel at Princeton University for twenty-six years (becoming the Reverend Ernest Gordon) whilst former Japanese Imperial Translator Takashi Nagase became a Buddhist monk. Moreover, fifty-five years after World War II, Gordon and former Nagase met at the Death Railway Cementery in Thailand, which is depicted in-part at the end of this film.

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Goofs

The American 'paratroopers' who liberate the POW camp all have large protective goggles on their helmets. However, such goggles were usually worn only by special troops such as bazooka teams and tank crews.

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Quotes

Ernest Gordon: How I miss Scotland and the sea. The sea. There's nothing like it in all the earth. Salt in your face, the wind at your back, and all the world before you, and you're freer than a bird in the air or a fish in the ocean. To be free - I reckon that's why I joined the second war to end all wars. I was at the university studying to be a teacher when the call to arms occurred. I was only too eager to put aside my studies for the glory of action. I stopped reading history and became a part of it.

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Soundtracks

MO MHIANN (HEALING HEART)
Written and Performed by Maire Brennan

User Reviews

The powerful, true story of what REALLY happened on the River Kwai during WW2.

THROUGH THE VALLEY OF THE KWAI, the story of British POW's forced to build the Japanese jungle railroad, was my favorite book when it came out in 1962. Thus I was a bit apprehensive at what filmmakers would do to it when I heard about TO END ALL WARS, the title itself being changed. The film is different in many ways from the book, but is so powerful that the addition (apparently for dramatic excitement) of fictional characters bent on staging an escape can be forgiven. Agnostic Ernest Gordon's story of his being nursed back from the brink of death by Christian friends, thereby starting him on the road to faith--and incredibly, understanding and then forgiveness of the harsh brutality of his Japanese captors--raises this film far above any other WW2 films that I have seen (except perhaps the under-rated THE THIN RED LINE, like TO END...also filled with philosophical questions and ruminations). Although the brutality of the Japanese bushito system is shown in all its horrific brutality, some of the Japanese, especially the young man who serves as interpreter, are depicted as having touch of humanity. The film's central thesis seems to depict the affects of clinging to anger and vengeance versus seeking to be able to forgive and reconcile. The latter is shown at the end of the film when, similar to the scene in SCHINDLER'S LIST, the real Capt. Ernest Gordon and Japanese interpreter Nagase, now old men, meet and shake hands in Thailand at a memorial to those who died building the railroad. The creativity of the men, forming a Jungle University where Plato and Shakespeare are taught, is celebrated, calling to mind the inspiring film of women POW's, PARADISE ROAD.

When this thought-inspiring film finally is released to theaters or video, don't miss it. It can serve as an antidote to the dozens of mindless, vengeance-based flicks cluttering up the screens of our cinemaplexes.

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English Japanese

Release Date:

2 September 2001 (USA)

Also Known As:

To End All Wars

Filming Locations:

Kaua'i, Hawaii, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$14,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Argyll Film Partners, Gummshoe Productions, Integrity Partners

Technical Specs

Runtime:

125 min 110 min (TV) 110 min (TV)

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color Black and White (archive footage)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1