To End All Wars

R

2001

2 hr. 1 min.

War

History

Drama

List

62%

13 Reviews

Tomatometer

85%

5,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

Based on a real-life story, this drama focuses on a small group of Allied soldiers in Burma who are held captive by the Japanese. Capt. Ernest Gordon (Ciaran McMenamin), Lt. Jim Reardon (Kiefer Sutherland) and Maj. Ian Campbell (Robert Carlyle) are among the military officers kept imprisoned and routinely beaten and deprived of food. While Campbell wants to rebel and attempt an escape, Gordon tries to take a more stoic approach, an attitude that proves to be surprisingly resonant.

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Nol P

I was not sure how to review this film to be honest but I must say it is a good watch and a must see. To see what horrors POWs went through is yes tough to watch! I have nothing but fullest respect for all of the Allied soldiers who put their lives on the line to protect all from the evils of war! Some good performances too but at times the main stars were under utilized I found. Maybe on purpose? This is another reason I did not know how to review this. My final grade was a very solid 7 out of 10 and almost a 7.5.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/02/24

Full Review

SICKS6SIX S

a film that makes you think, has good acting and good locations and is cinematically good, but the amazing thing is it is a real story, this happened in living memory (just now...) the two main characters both became priests which is understandable, it is gritty, dirty and grimy which is just how it was, the one thing the film can't show how hunger at that level affects the human body and brain, during extreme hunger you hallucinate, so imagine all that is happening in the film and you are also hallucinating, thinking your home is just over the next hill or your family is hiding in the trees watching you, these things I've read about POWs in Japanese concentration camps, how they thought at times their family was somehow part of what was happening, and how they thought they were at home,

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

02/15/23

Full Review

Rob M

This rendition was centered around Stockholm syndrome and POWs giving up their will to fight. They threw in a portrayal of a Major who was unable to muster a resistance to the enemy due to the hopelessness others in the camp felt. The director of this one made every effort to make fighting for survival an unredeemable quality. At many points they even went so far as to venerate Bushido culture and honor over that of western cultures ideas of justice. They made it seem as though POWs who did not fight for survival were the righteous ones, rewarded with rescue at the end of it all. It was strange, to say the least. But then, I may have been looking at the movie from an American background, where our sentiment towards this sort of thing is traditionally different than that of Europeans. But then, most of the guys resisting were European too. So yes, it's strange. One of those instances where history is only going to be dominated by the people left still around to tell the tale. I imagine the colonel would have told this story much differently, but his life gets cut short because of his honor. The philosophers who sat back and watched it all happen, again seem to be the ones getting to claim some sort of moral high ground because they either survived or sacrificed themselves to passivate the remaining prisoners from attempting their own escapes. In this I guess they feel like heroes?

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

11/30/22

Full Review

deke p

WOW!! GREAT! & very well done! Very deep & inspriational. I've heard of it for 20 yrs, (& for that long I've been Highly recommending see screenwriter GODOWA's 7 minute online film "CRUEL LOGIC"!! ). //.KIEFER S. was great, as were the others. Much like RIVER KWAI, & the ending kinda like PRIVATE RYAN. Max 5 RT stars. Never saw.until suddenly on the Tv, 1.31.22

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

Full Review

adam b

Directors cut: gut wrenching

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Excellent drama detecting life in a Japanese prisoner of war camp. Incredible moral story.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

12/17/20

Full Review

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David L. Cunningham

Director

Ciarán McMenamin

Capt. Ernest "Ernie" Gordon

Robert Carlyle

Maj. Ian Campbell

Kiefer Sutherland

Lt. Jim "Yankee" Reardon

Mark Strong

Dusty Miller

Yugo Saso

Takashi Nagase

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Kevin Thomas

Los Angeles Times

More grueling than rewarding.

Rated: 2.5/5

Dec 5, 2002

Full Review

David Hunter

Hollywood Reporter

An ensemble effort that recalls other great POW movies, Wars boasts many superb performances.

May 17, 2002

Full Review

Megan Basham

WORLD

Godawa and director David Cunningham don't fall back on paint-by-numbers transformation.

Oct 4, 2018

Full Review

Burl Burlingame

Honolulu Star-Advertiser

Will be well-received on Sunday-school movie night at church, particularly during group discussions afterward. For the rest of us, alas, it doesn't quite hang together.

Rated: 1.5/4

Jul 5, 2011

Full Review

Ron Reed

Christianity Today

Its message of costly sacrifice and hard-won reconciliation is at the heart of the gospel, and the fact that this story is drawn from actual events demands attention.

Rated: 2.5/4

Nov 1, 2006

Full Review

David Nusair

Reel Film Reviews

...there's no denying that the story it's telling is a fascinating one.

Rated: 3/4

Jul 20, 2004

Full Review

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Synopsis

Based on a real-life story, this drama focuses on a small group of Allied soldiers in Burma who are held captive by the Japanese. Capt. Ernest Gordon (Ciaran McMenamin), Lt. Jim Reardon (Kiefer Sutherland) and Maj. Ian Campbell (Robert Carlyle) are among the military officers kept imprisoned and routinely beaten and deprived of food. While Campbell wants to rebel and attempt an escape, Gordon tries to take a more stoic approach, an attitude that proves to be surprisingly resonant.

Director: David L. Cunningham
Executive Producer: Scott Walcheck, Greg Newman, John Quested
Screenwriter: Brian Godawa
Production Co: Pray For Rain Pictures Inc. , Argyll Film Partners, Integrity Partners, Gummshoe Productions
Rating: R
Genre: War, History, Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Streaming): May 2, 2017

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