This week's recommendations look at some war movies you may have overlooked for forgotten about.






This is not for everyone. This film takes place in a Japanese P.O.W. camp during World War II. The Japanese were brutal to their prisoners and this film offers an unflinching view of their cruelty. The horrific tortures are not shown for kicks. The script by Brian Godawa calmly lays out the worldviews of the characters and then puts them up against one another. The final act, which can be hard to get to given the brutality and sometimes lingering second act, delivers a terrific punch. If you are a patent audience and can handle grim circumstances on film, this is well worth hunting down.





Look past the pasted on beards and you will find an worthy film. Jeff Daniels in particular stands out in this production as Col. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain. He would later reprise the role in the epic Gods and Generals ten years later.

The movie is a little dry and some audience members looking for exciting battle sequences and clever camera work will be bored. If you're the type of person who wishes the History Channel would get back to actually talking about historic events - heck, even if you get this reference, this is probably a film you'd find interesting.

Labels: movie recommendations