This film is well made and well cast. The story-line is fairly easy to follow and has just the right amount of action. However, in places the action can be somewhat heavy... although this can only really be expected of a film on this theme. If you like war-time court-room dramas then you will enjoy this film. It is not predictable and the characters are believable.
8 Reviews
Closed in by inherent limitations, but very well-acted and structured.
SteveSkafte13 November 2008
There's an underlying factor about the design of a film like "Prisoners of the Sun" that doesn't allow for much leeway or originality. Much like similar films in this vein, the clichéd factors are unavoidable. There's to be the prosecutor with anger issues, the stoic (and typically un-convictable) evil leader, and finally, the sacrificial lamb.
So, as it is with "Breaker Morant", the quality lies directly with those actors involved. Don't be fooled by Russell Crowe's recent high billing - he is certainly not a star. In fact, he is very nearly unnoticeable amidst the larger happenings around him. The main standout performances belong to Bryan Brown and John Polson. Polson, certainly, gives a lot to the role. He is broken, nervous and jumpy, and highly convincing.
The development is rather predictable, I suppose, but the acting manages to carry it through. Overall, this is a good film - not great, but well considered.
RATING: 6.9 out of 10
So, as it is with "Breaker Morant", the quality lies directly with those actors involved. Don't be fooled by Russell Crowe's recent high billing - he is certainly not a star. In fact, he is very nearly unnoticeable amidst the larger happenings around him. The main standout performances belong to Bryan Brown and John Polson. Polson, certainly, gives a lot to the role. He is broken, nervous and jumpy, and highly convincing.
The development is rather predictable, I suppose, but the acting manages to carry it through. Overall, this is a good film - not great, but well considered.
RATING: 6.9 out of 10
Prisoners of the Sun. Post traumatic.
michaelRokeefe23 October 2007
Warning: Spoilers
This 1990 Aurstralian feature is based on the real-life tribunal in 1945 held to investigate atrocities committed during WWII. At an interment camp, the Japanese tortured and slaughtered 1100 Australian soldiers. Three hundred survived, nearly most scarred, suicidal and suffering post traumatic disorder. This horrific event went relatively unknown until a mass grave of decapitated corpses was found. Captain Cooper(Bryan Brown)is chosen to prosecute Vice-Admiral Baron Takahashi(George Takei) commander of the Japanese on the island of Ambon. Who ordered who to do what? Dark story with graphic images. The strong cast includes: Terry O'Quinn, Toshi Shioya, Deborah Unger, Jason Donovan, Kazuhiro Muroyama and a young Russell Crowe.
Excellent.
artzau29 June 2001
There is a video for this film and it is a good one. The story, a post WW2 investigation of atrocities committed against allied prisoners of war by the Japanese Imperial Army, is a gripping one with an ironic twist. George Takei, the lovable Sulu from the old Star Trek plays a first class slime. Bryant Brown is dynamic (isn't he always) and there are other excellent performances turned in by Japanese actors Tetsu Watanabe and Toshi Shioya. This is not a film for the faint of heart. The story line often presented in flashback is tense and intense. The final scenes with their political agendized justice leaves all us with much to ponder. An excellent film in many respects. A wrenching portrait of a terrible time in our history. Check it out.
shallow war crime melodrama
mjneu5927 December 2010
Bryan Brown portrays a military lawyer prosecuting the garrison of a Japanese POW camp where 800 Aussie soldiers were killed during World War Two. Of course the whole notion of a war crimes trial is totally ridiculous, but director Stephen Wallace ignores the built-in ambiguities of the post-war legal inquisition to offer, instead, a holy crusade against the enemies of freedom, with enough courtroom histrionics to make Perry Mason blush: emotional outbursts; surprise witnesses; flashback re-enactments and so forth. The script makes no attempt to understand the enemy: most of the Japanese are inscrutable monsters, led by George Takei, who gets star billing with a five-minute walk-on role, presumably to lure the unwary Trekkie into seeing the film. The other villains are (predictably) the American overlords, represented by Terry O'Quinn, wearing sinister Douglas Macarthur-style sunglasses and making ominous references to a New World Order. The film is based on a true story, but the subject of war crimes and punishment deserves a deeper, more substantial treatment than this handsome, high-minded piece of fluff.
VERY ABSORBING DRAMA WITH GREAT ACTING
bbrown-329 June 1999
Bryan Brown is a lawyer prosecuting Japanese Officers and Soldiers for war crimes committed on Australian prisoners.
However, all his witnesses are either dead or have been sent home and all the records have been destroyed.
This is a very absorbing video with good acting from everyone.
Makes you wonder if there are ever any winners in war or does one side just lose more than the other.
However, all his witnesses are either dead or have been sent home and all the records have been destroyed.
This is a very absorbing video with good acting from everyone.
Makes you wonder if there are ever any winners in war or does one side just lose more than the other.
A dark history
Ekul102112 August 2014
Warning: Spoilers
We all know about Nuremberg, the Nazi leadership was sentenced to death, but what about their allies the Japanese Empire? To some historians, the Japanese POW was on par with the Nazi's Death camp where most Allied POWs never made it out.
The movie Prisoners of the Sun shows one of the few court where following orders is just as bad as murdering. Just because he is following orders, he is still held accountable. George Taki plays the sly Admiral who manage to wheeze his way without admitting guilt. Lt. Tanaka who in fact was a Christian, but let the loyalty of his country cloud his judgment. Captain Ikeuchi is the savage camp commandant and no doubt was the sole person behind the war crimes.
The movie itself was great acting with nothing you could see except are facts, most was real emotions I'm sure from the actor especially playing a heavy role here. Now on to the entertainment value, there is none. This movie itself is a historical docudrama and there is no kissing sex or any of that garbage here. The purpose is to open a dark window of what happened in the Japanese death camps that we know so little about. Even the Nazi death camps are very well documented compared to here.
I recommend seeing this movie not for its entertainment value, but a history lesson of what really happen and how men can become monsters. It is a history to learn so that we don't repeat it again.
The movie Prisoners of the Sun shows one of the few court where following orders is just as bad as murdering. Just because he is following orders, he is still held accountable. George Taki plays the sly Admiral who manage to wheeze his way without admitting guilt. Lt. Tanaka who in fact was a Christian, but let the loyalty of his country cloud his judgment. Captain Ikeuchi is the savage camp commandant and no doubt was the sole person behind the war crimes.
The movie itself was great acting with nothing you could see except are facts, most was real emotions I'm sure from the actor especially playing a heavy role here. Now on to the entertainment value, there is none. This movie itself is a historical docudrama and there is no kissing sex or any of that garbage here. The purpose is to open a dark window of what happened in the Japanese death camps that we know so little about. Even the Nazi death camps are very well documented compared to here.
I recommend seeing this movie not for its entertainment value, but a history lesson of what really happen and how men can become monsters. It is a history to learn so that we don't repeat it again.
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