← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · BlueBonnet
Thread ID: 19975 | Posts: 2 | Started: 2005-09-03
2005-09-03 18:04 | User Profile
Just saw this movie. Starring Benjamin Bratt and Joseph Fiennes. I think that every school kid should watch this as part of the curriculim for history. If we force them to watch Schindler's List than I think this should be shown as well. It is based on the book "Ghost Soldiers" and is a true story about the most succseful raid and rescue in US Military history. It starts with news reals and a few b&w movie depictations of the Bataan(sp?) death march. I'm sure that the movie was GREATLY sanitized as to how the Japs treated the soldiers, but it still gets the point across. I have to say the actor who portrayed the secret police chief (scene at the beginning where he marches soldiers into air raid shelters then dumps fuel on them and lights them on fire) got the true embodiment of why we were absolutely justified in dropping the bomb. Everytime I saw his face I just got this total gut wrenching reaction. The Japanese culture dictated that if you were captured or surendered you should save your honor by commiting suicide. The fact that our guys didn't, to the Japanese seemed as if we had no self respect and therefore they could treat them as if they were less than animals. In short we have the Japanese respect today because we kicked the sh** out of them.
2005-09-05 03:29 | User Profile
Glad to hear it wasn't sanitized too much ... the book is what should be required material in high schools ... accounts such as tanks running over the POWs as they were mercilessly marched to the camps; jap troops breaking rank to take swords to POW midsections; etc, etc ... really makes you want to throw up ... in fact, the veterans I know who fought in the Pacific still will not walk on the same side of the street as a jap and refuse to watch baseball on account of the number of japs participating in our past-time