''To End All Wars'' is a 2001

war film War film is a film genre concerned with warfare, typically about navy, naval, air force, air, or army, land battles, with combat scenes central to the drama. It has been strongly associated with the 20th century. The fateful nature of battle s ...

starring

Robert Carlyle Robert Carlyle (born 14 April 1961) is a Scottish actor. His film work includes '' Trainspotting'' (1996), ''The Full Monty'' (1997), ''The World Is Not Enough'' (1999), ''Angela's Ashes'' (1999), '' The Beach'' (2000), ''28 Weeks Later'' (20 ...

, Kiefer Sutherland and Sakae Kimura and was directed by David L. Cunningham. The film is based on '' Through the Valley of the Kwai'', an autobiography of Scottish captain Ernest Gordon.

Plot

The film is set in a Japanese

prisoner of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of w ...

labour camp A labor camp (or labour camp, see spelling differences) or work camp is a detention facility where inmates are forced to engage in penal labor as a form of punishment. Labor camps have many common aspects with slavery and with prisons (especi ...

where the inmates are building the

Burma Railway The Burma Railway, also known as the Siam–Burma Railway, Thai–Burma Railway and similar names, or as the Death Railway, is a railway between Ban Pong, Thailand and Thanbyuzayat, Burma (now called Myanmar). It was built from 1940 to 1943 ...

during the last three and a half years of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

."Review: ‘To End All Wars’"
''Variety'', Dennis Harvey. June 18, 2002 Captain Ernest Gordon was a company commander with the 2nd Battalion, Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders who fought in several battles in the Malayan Campaign and the

Battle of Singapore The Fall of Singapore, also known as the Battle of Singapore,; ta, சிங்கப்பூரின் வீழ்ச்சி; ja, シンガポールの戦い took place in the South–East Asian theatre of the Pacific War. The Empire of ...

before being captured and made a

by the Japanese.

Cast

Production

It was filmed primarily on the island of Kauai,

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only state ...

, with some excerpt shots of

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...

. The film was rated R in the U.S. for war violence and brutality, and for some

language Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of ...

. The film was produced by Jack Hafer and David Cunningham. The screenplay is based on the autobiography of Ernest Gordon and recounts the experiences of

faith Faith, derived from Latin ''fides'' and Old French ''feid'', is confidence or trust in a person, thing, or In the context of religion, one can define faith as " belief in God or in the doctrines or teachings of religion". Religious people ofte ...

and hope of the interned men. The autobiography was originally published under the name '' Through the Valley of the Kwai'',"No Headline"
''New York Times'', By DAVID STOUTJAN. 20, 2002 then later as ''Miracle on the River Kwai'' (not to be confused with the separate novel ''

The Bridge over the River Kwai ''The Bridge over the River Kwai'' (french: Le Pont de la rivière Kwaï) is a novel by the French novelist Pierre Boulle, published in French in 1952 and English translation by Xan Fielding in 1954. The story is fictional but uses the construct ...

'' by Pierre Boulle). Gordon's book was finally re-issued with the title ''To End All Wars'' to tie in with the film. Post-production of the film footage was delayed because of lack of funding, which was eventually provided by Gold Crest Films.

Reception

On the review aggregation website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

the film has a score of 62% based on reviews from 13 critics, with an average rating of 5.9/10. The film was awarded the Crystal Heart Award and Grand Prize for Dramatic Feature at the

Heartland Film Festival The Heartland International Film Festival is a film festival held each October in Indianapolis, Indiana. The festival was first held in 1992, its goal is to "inspire filmmaker Filmmaking (film production) is the process by which a motion pictu ...

."Heartland Winner Returns"
''The Indianapolis Star''. Indianapolis, Indiana. November 10, 2002. Page 140 A review in ''Variety'' is mainly negative.

Soundtrack

The film's soundtrack was never released as a stand-alone release. Various songs have been re-recorded by

Moya Brennan Moya Brennan (born Máire Philomena Ní Bhraonáin on 4 August 1952), also known as Máire Brennan, is an Irish folk singer, songwriter, harpist, and philanthropist. She is the sister of the musical artist known as Enya. She began performing pr ...

on her subsequent solo albums, most recently 'Mo Mhian' on My Match Is A Makin'.

References

External links

* * {{Rotten Tomatoes, to_end_all_wars *
To End All Wars
' at th
Arts & Faith Top100 Spiritually Significant Films
list
WorldCat report
2001 films Pacific War films World War II prisoner of war films Films directed by David L. Cunningham Films scored by John Cameron Burma Campaign films Burma Railway World War II films based on actual events Films about the British Army