There is this small shop in Podium called Ink and Stone. It’s a really small shop that sells books and beads and accessories and stuff. Not a place where you would usually find me but I have been able to find books there that I couldn’t get in Power books, so I always make it a point to drop by and check out what they have. A couple of years back I found this book called The Great Raid. On the front cover it read “Soon to be a major motion picture from Miramax films”. I have read a lot books about WW II but mostly about the war in Europe, and I thought it would be nice to read something that happened here in this country for a change.
Fast-forward to today, The Great Raid has had its run in the local cinemas and it came and went without much fanfare. I had been waiting for the movie since I first read the book and when it finally arrived, I wasn’t surprised… it wasn’t really worth waiting for.
It had the hallmarks of a typical Hollywood film, it chopped up what was in the book and had the mandatory love angle. It also had CGI special effects to recreate the landing beaches of Leyte and the city of Manila during the war. The film also followed the current trend of taking a detached view and not glorifying war.
But in the end it still was a Hollywood film meant for the American market. It seems to me that the truth would have been a better story to tell but it simply doesn’t have what Hollywood is looking for.
The film left out Claire Fuentes who ran the Tsubaki club and a spy ring who worked with Guerillas to get information to Mc Arthur and even get some supplies to the Cabanatuan POW camp. I think she would have been more interesting than Miss “U” or Miss Utinsky who in real life was a middle aged over weight woman. The truth is more fascinating than fiction.
The film did make a lot of modifications for dramatic effect. The murder of POWs by putting them in air raid shelters and dumping gasoline on them to burn them alive wasn’t in the book and I haven’t read anything like that happening. I don’t think it makes sense to be wasting precious fuel when you can just simply shoot or bayonet or even behead the prisoners. There was also no barrio filled with burnt up bodies that day. I’m sure something like that happened during the course of the war but it simply wasn’t in the book.
The Alamo Scouts
The movie did mention in the end that more than 20 Filipino Guerillas died as opposed to 2 American Rangers. The film also didn’t show that there were more Filipino Guerillas who fought that day and considering the death toll and the fact that the almost 1,000 Japanese soldiers across the river didn’t get through, that means that they stood their ground and fought well. It would have probably been a route and a massacre had the Japanese been able to get through since they would have out numbered the Rangers who were spread out and was slowed down by the 511 POWs.
It wasn’t also mentioned that Capt. Pajota and Capt. Joson fought as Lieutenants under US command in Bataan and that they were operating as Guerillas under the command of Major Bob Lapham. Major Lapham was the guy who rode a horse to tell the US forces about the POW camp.
Col. Mucci and Capt. Prince were both awarded with the Distinguished Service Cross, and the other officers were given the Silver Star, while the enlisted men got Bronze Stars. Capt. Pajota and Capt. Joson who both played crucial roles, were both officers, and were actually members of the US Army were only awarded Bronze Stars.
Capt. Pajota was later promoted to Major and fought the Japanese in northern Luzon till the end of the war and Capt. Joson became the Governor of Nueva Ecija after the war and his heirs has followed in his foot steps and still hold political power in the province to this day.
Filipino Guerillas
The film did capture the spirit of the whole affair by admitting that the mission had no strategic military value but was conducted primarily for idealistic reasons. The US Government did write off the American forces along with the Filipino soldiers fighting under the American flag on Bataan, to be chewed up by the Japanese for strategic reasons. In effect rescuing the POWs was the least they could do.
Ranger and POW
Fast-forward to today, The Great Raid has had its run in the local cinemas and it came and went without much fanfare. I had been waiting for the movie since I first read the book and when it finally arrived, I wasn’t surprised… it wasn’t really worth waiting for.
It had the hallmarks of a typical Hollywood film, it chopped up what was in the book and had the mandatory love angle. It also had CGI special effects to recreate the landing beaches of Leyte and the city of Manila during the war. The film also followed the current trend of taking a detached view and not glorifying war.
But in the end it still was a Hollywood film meant for the American market. It seems to me that the truth would have been a better story to tell but it simply doesn’t have what Hollywood is looking for.
The film left out Claire Fuentes who ran the Tsubaki club and a spy ring who worked with Guerillas to get information to Mc Arthur and even get some supplies to the Cabanatuan POW camp. I think she would have been more interesting than Miss “U” or Miss Utinsky who in real life was a middle aged over weight woman. The truth is more fascinating than fiction.
The film did make a lot of modifications for dramatic effect. The murder of POWs by putting them in air raid shelters and dumping gasoline on them to burn them alive wasn’t in the book and I haven’t read anything like that happening. I don’t think it makes sense to be wasting precious fuel when you can just simply shoot or bayonet or even behead the prisoners. There was also no barrio filled with burnt up bodies that day. I’m sure something like that happened during the course of the war but it simply wasn’t in the book.
The Alamo Scouts
The movie did mention in the end that more than 20 Filipino Guerillas died as opposed to 2 American Rangers. The film also didn’t show that there were more Filipino Guerillas who fought that day and considering the death toll and the fact that the almost 1,000 Japanese soldiers across the river didn’t get through, that means that they stood their ground and fought well. It would have probably been a route and a massacre had the Japanese been able to get through since they would have out numbered the Rangers who were spread out and was slowed down by the 511 POWs.
It wasn’t also mentioned that Capt. Pajota and Capt. Joson fought as Lieutenants under US command in Bataan and that they were operating as Guerillas under the command of Major Bob Lapham. Major Lapham was the guy who rode a horse to tell the US forces about the POW camp.
Col. Mucci and Capt. Prince were both awarded with the Distinguished Service Cross, and the other officers were given the Silver Star, while the enlisted men got Bronze Stars. Capt. Pajota and Capt. Joson who both played crucial roles, were both officers, and were actually members of the US Army were only awarded Bronze Stars.
Capt. Pajota was later promoted to Major and fought the Japanese in northern Luzon till the end of the war and Capt. Joson became the Governor of Nueva Ecija after the war and his heirs has followed in his foot steps and still hold political power in the province to this day.
Filipino Guerillas
The film did capture the spirit of the whole affair by admitting that the mission had no strategic military value but was conducted primarily for idealistic reasons. The US Government did write off the American forces along with the Filipino soldiers fighting under the American flag on Bataan, to be chewed up by the Japanese for strategic reasons. In effect rescuing the POWs was the least they could do.
Ranger and POW
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