Simply A Masterpiece

Good , But It Is Overrated By Some

Absolutely brilliant

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

This should have been the definitive war movie about the building of the Burma railway, but it falls short on many levels. The characters are far too spread out and the editing lets this down. The second half moves into Christian mishmash which does nothing for character or plot. Tireless voice overs ask imponderable philosophical questions, without solution or redemption. An implausible scene shows one man being crucified by the "evil" Japanese officer who then has a tear in his eye, even though his life revolves around the Bushido code. Nothing really makes any sense despite vague philosophical pretensions about forgiveness. Could have been great.

I rented this film not having read or researched any information regarding the true events behind it. I was surprised, and incensed to look further into the story.From the perspective of a movie, the actors, directing, etc were all very well put together and played. Kieffer Sutherland brought his character to pulling you into his part, Mark Strong and Ciaran McMenamin played their parts as kindred spirits excellently.The best acting was Sakae Kimura playing Sgt. Ito. He never spoke a line of English through the film, but his facial expressions spoke massive volumes! I was completely taken aback with how well he communicated without even speaking my native tongue. My hat is off to him for such an excellent performance.If you enjoy films about humanity, perseverance against all odds, and learning the atrocities of war this will be well worth your time!

I'm sick to death of hearing 'Gladiator' described as a war film in certain high profile, influential polls. Yes,'Saving Private Ryan','Apocalypse Now' etc. are fantastic but i believe this film belongs in at LEAST the top 10 war film of all time.The film in short (which is a true story based on accounts of the main protagonist memoirs, the actors whose name i will not mention because it wont mean anything till you watch the film)is about a Scottish regiment being the last line of defense in the world war against the Japanese.They are caught by the Japanese & sent to a prisoner of war camp. I feel it right to stop there because the description of the film itself does no justice at all to its sheer brilliance.the supporting cast,kiefer sutherland & robert carlyle was reason enough to watch this film as thy play an extremely integral part to the tale,but alas this film is quite 'sickeningly' underrated. it teaches the power of forgiveness (as its tag line suggests)& i hope if the film was a real person it could forgive the Oscar film board and public.this film is the only film where despite the antagonistic portrayal of the Japanese, it has great respect for there culture via dialogue and also the development of the characters. The character 'Edo' (the shin-obi code faithful commander) is one to watch out for, despite his few lines in the film his elegance,stern demeanour & performance shines through. Not many people noticed this i believe & as not to spoil it there is one very beautifully emotional scene part way through the film which anyone who is going to watch it will know what i am talking about involving a prisoner called 'dusty' and the commander 'edo'.I am one man who cannot make a difference with this,i hope my word will not fall on deaf ears and you go out & watch this film on DVD. i have seen all the war films that have been praised, this really is the best one i have seen, THERE!,I SAID IT!

I am an aspiring filmmaker and enjoy, possibly obsess, on watching a lot of movies. I am known as the "movie guy" and people ask me for my two cents about films all the time. When I heard of "To End All Wars" it sounded promising and decided to give it a try. It never came to a theater near me, but I did get to rent it when it came out on DVD. I have to say that touched me beyond any movie I have never seen and you can't even imagine how many movies I have seen. The directing was beyond glorious, that I'm sure Steven Spielberg would be moved. I very much liked how he portrayed the POW's and the Japanese soldiers. The POW's are very shaky, hand-held look while on the opposite side the Japanese are very still and clear cut. The story was powerful and something everyone can learn from. The Christian subtext is light and only adds to the characters. The acting was fantastic! Robert Carlyle and Kiefer Sutherland gave amazing performances, but I do think that they were upstaged by Ciaran McMenamin and Mark Strong. They convicted me and touched my soul as they brought out, only what I can call true life. If you want to watch something that will make a true impact on you and leave you breathless, then this is the movie to go with. I'm sure you won't be disappointed.