Tweet
Just wondering if FMA may make an appearance in this movie via the Filipino Guerrillas? From all the sneak previews Ive had, I heard it's great!
-
-
you should read the book "Ghost soldiers" that the movie was based on, no
FMA in it but it does give the Filipino resistance some long overdue credit.
Captains Eduardo Joson and Juan Pajota both played crucial roles in the mission to save the POW's, Pajota's suggestion to delay the mission 24 hours was followed through by Colonel Mucci and thanks to Pajota's intimate knowledge of the area and support within the local community the mission was pulled off evacuating a large number of POW's by Carabao (water buffalo) cart!
the Japanese were said to be Baffled by the Filipinos resistance to their "Asia for Asians" propaganda and their allegiance to the former occupiers of the islands.
of course slapping people in the face, a common disciplinary action in the Japanese army did not go over too well with the local residents! -
Saw the film. The film makers probably had a limited budget, were lazy or wanted to minimize the Filipino battle scene because they never showed how MANY Japanese were actually in these battles. One pivotal scene did have Filipinos in it and in the books they described the Japanese casualties "piled up in the hundreds!" .. but in the film you might see about twenty at most at one time. It tended to confuse the average film goer because in the end credits it states 21 Filipinos died in the bridge battle. Since the film makers showed a similar ratio of Japanese casualties on that bridge scene, and not the wider contrast of several HUNDRED Japanese piled up on the bridge - I felt it minimized the visual impact of the actual event. It was a case of truth being much more spectacular than art.
"for the Filipinos it was personal, tribal, national; they considered it a blessing of fate, long overdue, to strike back at the invaders..." pg 292 GHOST SOLDIERS describing the mindset during that bridge skirmish.
Its still a good film - not great. The lack of funding showed. It didn't look like the Philippine landscape but somewhere else.. maybe Australia. When Hollywood uses the Philippines it looks more like Platoon or Apocalypse Now.
Not perfect but worth a look.
Trivia:
"...a number of other Filipino actors, including Ebong Joson in the role of the real-life Captain Joson. During casting, it was noted that Ebong shared his last name with the character he was auditioning for. It was only when Ebong accepted the part that he realized . . . he was playing his OWN grandfather.”
--Rafael--Comment
-
Great Raid
I just got back from the Philippines and it seemed that every other billboard seemed to advertise "The Great Raid"... i wanted to see it, but time was spent visiting family and friends...
Journalist Pati Poblete (San Francisco Chronicle) wrote a review on it: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...sn=001&sc=1000
i hope to see it soon, but will most likely read the book first
all the best!Comment
Comment