Ernest: How I miss Scotland and the sea.
The sea.
There's nothing like it in all the earth --
salt in your face, the wind at your back,
and all the world before you,
and you're freer than a bird in the air or a fish in the ocean.
To be free --
i reckon that's why I joined the second war to end all wars.
I was at the university studying to be a teacher
when the call to arms occurred.
I was only too eager
to put aside my studies for the glory of action.
I stopped reading history and became a part of it.
I joined the proud ranks
of the argyll and sutherland highlanders
and became captain Ernest Gordon.
My commanding officer
was lieutenant colonel Stuart mclean,
the finest commander the 93rd battalion ever had...
A man of deep loyalties
to his country, his duty, and his men --
a loyalty that was soon to be matched
by his own second-in-command, major Ian Campbell,
a man of passionate devotion to the colonel,
as well as the cause.
And it was our loyalties that would eventually be tested.
The argylls had a legacy of being the last line of defense,
and we were to prove that legacy once again
in the face of defeat and capture by the enemy.
You look the devil in the face with pride, boys!
Man: There we go! Quite!
And try not and shit your kilts.
Come on, then!
Bastards are just playing with our minds.
When you surrender in war,
you're stripped of your dignity as a soldier.
All you've got left is your fellow comrades,
many of whom you've just met.
Lieutenant Jim reardon, merchant marine,
one of the few Americans in the area,
attached himself to the argylls during the allied surrender.
We called him "yanker,"
'cause he was both an American and a bit of a wanker.
Parade halt!
What's that stench?
That'll be death, major.
Man: Sir!
Parade right!
Parade halt!
Left, hut!
Stand at ease!
Stand easy.
Tenko!
What the hell does "tenko" mean?
Must be roll call.
Today you will count off in English.
But tomorrow and forever, in Japanese.
Start counting!
One! Two!
Man: Three! Man #2: Four!
Man #3: Five! Man #4: Six!
Big-eared nip.
Bastard.
This is a shame culture.
You make them lose face, you'll pay.
Stand easy.
Stuart: This is an outrage!
I am a senior officer,
and I will not tolerate this barbaric behavior!
This man has rights!
Are they...
Takashi: Attention, prisoners.
You are now captives
of his imperial majesty, the emperor.
Behold the extreme penalty for those who try to escape.
This is for your own sake.
You will sign these papers, promising not to escape.
No escape, my yankee ass.
This is against the Geneva convention.
They don't care about the Geneva convention.
Takashi: Tomorrow you will bring these signed papers
from all prisoners.
You are dismissed.
Go.
What did you just say?
I told him you were stupid.
Don't know whether to thank you or kick your ass.
Ian Campbell.
Dusty Miller.
Where'd you learn to speak Japanese?
What about the colonel?
You want your colonel back?
I owe the man my life.
Man: The more hair, the more lice.
Man: Ow!
A word of advice --
stay close to your cobbers.
But when it comes right down to it,
it's survival of the fittest.
Every man for himself.
Barter is the name of the game, gents.
Doctor: They call the hospital the death house.
You don't want to end up in here.
Relish your health now, gentlemen.
It's the last you'll see of it.
There are thousands more prisoners
in camps all along the river.
Not too much skinny here from the outside.
Japs keep us in the dark.
No radios.
They catch one, they'll kill you.
Officers, try to keep your shirt on.
It'll distinguish you from the grunts,
which is about the only thing
that's keeping us from degenerating
into a bloody anarchy.
Ernie, where you going?
To find out about the colonel.
You're just asking for trouble!
Doc.
Get him down here.
Easy.
It's my back.
My back, my back.
Ah.
Oh, what the bloody hell happened?
Uh, looks like you didn't bow.
What?
Always bow before a guard, Korean or jap.
And never look them in the eyes when they pass you.
That's pure defiance. Always look away.
Rules of bushido.
Bushido?
Yeah, their kind of chivalry.
Respect and obligation.
If you don't respect them,
they feel obligated to bash you.
Nothing personal.
Well, it sure as bloody well feels personal.
Yeah, it works both ways.
They do the same to their own.
That's a comfort.
Now, listen.
You must understand, these monsters
truly believe we're an inferior race --
less than human.
Now, beating a prisoner to them
is like beating a disobedient dog,
and the fiercer the beating,
the fiercer their dedication to the emperor.
You'll be all right, son.
Make space for the colonel.
You're buggers for punishment, you lot.
Get him down here.
Get him down.
Listen, listen,
you should have let them take me instead, sir.
Anything we can do for you, colonel?
Ah.
Start preparing.
Preparing for what?
Escape.
What else, you towheaded yank?
Dusty.
Thank you.
Colonel, I've been watching these nips.
There's never more than a handful of them
guarding the perimeter at any given time,
and they're not watching very closely.
It just doesn't make sense to me, unless --
unless what?
Well, unless every prisoner's been caught or died
in a thousand Miles of hostile jungle.
Unless the local villagers
are willing to turn in a p.O.W.
For a bowl of rice.
Unless escape is impossible.
Excellent.
Yanker...
You find the best escape route, hmm?
Ian. Yes, sir.
You should start getting survival gear together.
Ernest, get things together.
We can trade with the locals.
Yes, sir.
And as soon as I'm well, we're on our way.
Yes, sir.
Okay? Yes, sir.
Good. Sir.
Good boys.
They're good boys.
That's my boys.
Hey, how about some extra for my colonel?
He's in the death house.
If your colonel can't make it, it means he can't work.
If he can't work, he can't eat.
Nip rules. Move along.
Come on, pal. I'll owe you one.
Hey, you heard him.
He said, "move along"!
Bloody sheep-humping highlander!
Man: Come on!
Get up!
Man #2: Yeah! Nice!
Man #3: Yeah! Man #4: Do it!
Man: What are you -- bloody chicken?
I'll kick your ass!
Come on, you English! Come on!
Well, come on, then, wanker!
Well, come on! Fight...
It's enough.
What does it take for a man to lose his dignity?
Come on, you English! Come on!
How far can he fall to pay the price of survival?
Dusty built a sanctuary just outside the camp
called the church without walls.
We were allowed to visit it freely.
They knew we had nowhere to go.
Ian: I'll tell you what I'm gonna do
soon as I get back to Glasgow.
Gonna visit my favorite pub.
I'm gonna sink 14 whiskeys and 7 pints.
And I'm gonna spend the night
in the arms of my tender, loving wife.
You married, sir?
No, but if you got a sister, I'm available.
What about you, Ernie?
Probably teach.
I've always fancied teaching.
I thought I'd see the world first, though.
You got that wish.
Aye.
When I get out of here,
I'm gonna go into business for myself
and get stinking rich.
What kind of business?
Black market.
Prostitution.
I'll tell you what, mate.
You're not gonna make much money as a prostitute,
I'll tell you that.
What about you, sir?
What are you gonna do after the war?
Start preparing for the next war.
In the bushido code, the nation is everything.
The individual is nothing.
Conformity is how they gain their sense of purpose,
and they expected us to fall in line, as well.
What are we saying, dusty?
Loyalty, politeness, frugality.
Soldier's duty.
Well, isn't that just dandy?
Carry on, sergeant major.
Parade!
About face!
Man: All show respect
for honorable lieutenant colonel nagatomo,
chief of Thailand p.O.W. Administration.
I think she fancies me.
It is great pleasure for me
to see you at this place.
You are few remaining skeleton of our victory
and are pitiful victim.
You should weep with gratitude
at his imperial majesty, the emperor,
who pity you for being coward!
What's he talking about -- cowards?
Rules of bushido.
They believe the losers should kill themselves.
You will give me great pleasure
to build a railroad through the jungle
to the glory of his imperial majesty, the emperor!
Savior of Japan!
Savior of Asia!
We will build this railroad
if we have to build it over the white man's body.
It is your purification.
Railroad to be 420 kilometer,
from chungkai base camp to thanbyuzayat in north.
You will build the railroad in 18 months.
18 months?
How will my men
manage that on the rations you're feeding them, hmm?
Officers work, as well.
Royal engineer will oversee building.
Where are the signed papers?
Gentlemen...
...as you have violated the Geneva convention,
the hague convention,
and every human right
for properly supervised prisoners of war,
may I respectfully recommend
Stuart: That you and your fascist monkeys
stick your head up your ass,
because we will not sign your bloody paper!
Now translate that!
I am sick of this drivel!
Gentlemen. Man: Sir.
Look after my boys, Ian.
It is regrettable,
but we take each of you and shoot one by one...
Man: Come on, man. Let's go.
Sir!
...until you respect emperor!
Come on. Out of here.
Come on! Sir!
Come on, man! Come on out of here!
Come on, man! Out of here!
The bastard! Out of here!
The bastard! Bastard!
Let me go.
Major, what happened? What happened?
Bastards! Major, where's the -- where's the --
it's the colonel's blood!
It's the colonel's blood. It's the colonel's blood!
The colonel's blood!
It's the colonel's...
The bastard!
Major.
Man: Major, the colonel!
No.
Man #2: Don't let him go!
Man #3: No, don't.
There's nothing you can do.
How can he die?
What are we gonna...
What are we gonna do?
It's all right.
What are we gonna do now? Shh.
What are we gonna do now?
"Verily, verily, I say unto you,
"'except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die,
"'it abideth alone.
But if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.'"
there is suffering before glory.
There is a cross before the crown.
Outward turn!
Slow...
March!
Cheers.
I'm not leaving.
What?
I said, "I'm not leaving."
What about our plan?
I owed the colonel my life,
and I watched him die in front of my eyes,
and I just stood there, doing nothing.
You think you're the only one suffering here?
You think you're the only one --
now waken up!
There's a reason why every escape has failed,
and there's a reason why the japs
don't give a toss about security.
We were fools to think we even stood a chance.
I've got my own plans now.
You are a selfish bastard.
Come on, Ernie.
Ernie!
Fine!
Ernest: Yanker, wait a minute!
Yanker, wait!
You'll never make it on your own in that jungle.
It's suicide!
Take a look around you!
Take a look in the eyes of these men.
You tell me what you see.
That's right, Ernie.
They're dead already.
You know it, and I know it.
At least with escape, it gave us one thing --
hope.
Hope, Ernie.
Because without that,
we might as well be sitting in there
with our thumbs up our asses,
waiting for the end to come.
Is that what you want?
Let me tell you something about me.
I am not a stupid man,
and I am not a kamikaze.
If I can't escape, I'll do the next best thing.
I will take care of myself,
and that's exactly what I plan on doing.
Yanker!
We are all in this -- all of us together!
Sure, kid.
Every single one of us.
The Japanese were preparing to invade India.
The railway would be their supply line.
We would be the means to their end.
When you're living to die, every minute is an eternity.
Days are lost.
Months blend into one another.
And the only reality you know is in the moment,
and the moment hangs over you like death.
It's difficult to describe what it's like
to live with permanent hunger in your belly
and the stench of disease and death all around you
with every breath you take.
Malaria, diphtheria, pellagra, dysentery
sucks every ounce of fluid right out of your body.
Your muscles cramp up, and your circulation collapses.
Major!
He's burning up.
Ernie.
Doctor: I don't know anybody who could survive that lot.
Oh, Ernie, son.
You are a good soldier...
...and a good friend.
So, this is death...
...dark...
Cold...
...all alone.
No more reason to fight, so they give up on you.
In death, there is no second chance.
So that's what you think about when you're dying --
the real value of all that you've done with your life,
and all that you might have done,
if only you'd had a second chance.
Bloody hell.
These nip bastards are eating like the prince of wales.
Life doesn't wait for the individual,
especially life as a prisoner of war.
If you want to survive,
you need a bit of luck, a quick wit,
and a mate to pick you up when you fall.
Where am I?
You've been unconscious for days.
I thought if I could get you out of the death house
and into some fresh air,
you'd have a better chance of surviving.
I don't know if I want to survive anymore.
Open up.
How did you get the food away from the line?
I have my connections. Come on. Open up.
Why are you doing this?
Hey, Ernie.
Uh, me and the cobbers, we've been chewing it over,
and, uh, we got thinking.
What's the purpose in what we've been suffering?
I mean, where's the justice
in -- in nips bashing us and working us to death?
And what's worse, we're killing each other
to save our own skins.
What exactly are you asking me?
You said you wanted to be a teacher.
Yeah.
We thought that you might have some answers, sir.
Would you like me to take a lecture
on the meaning of life?
Oh, that's a bloody fine idea, sir.
Please...
Just leave me alone.
That's what I figured.
You know, a man can experience an incredible amount
of pain and suffering, if he has hope.
When he loses his hope, that's when he dies.
All right.
Bathroom.
Benjo.
Come on.
Reardon managed to make a connection
to the local thai black market. Let me see.
He wouldn't share it with the others,
for fear of being discovered by the nips.
At least, that's what he told us.
Good God, yanker, that's stinking.
Right there, major Campbell --
this is the scent of happiness.
Nectar of the gods.
Our ticket to numbness.
Fermented rice alcohol.
This one's on the house.
Bastard.
That's done it.
Of course I've done it.
Oh, nice one, yanker. Let's have a swig.
Whoa, whoa, gentlemen.
You want charity, go to church.
As for me, I'm bartering my way to happiness,
so pony up with some cash.
Anything you got. Don't be shy.
Line starts right here.
Two cigarettes.
Come on. Walk.
Ernie, you bastard. You're still alive.
Hey, Lazarus. Back from the dead, my son.
Well, I kind of wish I'd stayed there, sir.
Bollocks, soldier. We need you alive.
Oh! Hey!
Come on.
What's wrong?
He hasn't eaten.
He's been able to get me extra rations.
He never got you extra rations, Ernie.
He was giving you his.
Help me with his legs.
I learned that while dusty was taking care of me,
the major was preparing his own plans.
Just what, I couldn't tell.
No, no, no.
Where did you get the food?
Multiple anonymous donors.
Eat.
I've decided to start a school for the jocks...
...a jungle university.
I already made my own blackboard.
Yanker rustled me up a textbook
for no small price.
First class is this evening.
I've got six students already.
I know it's small, but, um...
It's a start.
I don't want to be the skeptic here, Ernie,
but how in the hell
do you expect to engage in a group activity
without the nips seeing you?
In the one place that the nips will never go near.
This stench is intolerable.
Shut your cake hole!
We're doing the best we can.
Get used to it. Ernest: Right, lads.
Uh, make yourself as comfortable as you can,
and let's get started, eh?
I'd like to speak to you about Plato.
Um...
Right.
What...
...is...
Justice?
Excuse me, sir.
Sir.
Is it true you're giving educational classes?
We'd like to help teach.
Well, what's your story?
Roger primrose, trained in the fine arts.
Lieutenant foxworth here
used to teach Shakespeare at Cambridge.
I'm his platoon sergeant.
Poor blighter's at a loss without his books and the bard.
I figure if I can keep him busy long enough,
he won't end up killing himself.
I'm not joking, sir.
Well, unfortunately, we don't have any Shakespeare.
"To die, to sleep, no more."
"And by a sleep to say we end the heartache
"and the thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to.
"'Tis a consummation devoutly to be wished.
"To die, to sleep.
"To sleep, perchance to dream.
"Ay, there's the rub.
"For in that sleep of death, what dreams may come
"when we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
"must give us pause.
"There's the respect
"that makes calamity of so long life.
"For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
"the oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,
"the pangs of despised love,
the law's delay, the insolence of office"...
Mm.
Looks like we do have the old bard after all, sir.
Looks like we do. He'll handle it.
Come on, foxworth.
"The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,
"the pangs of despised love,
"the law's delay, the insolence of office,
"and the spurns that patient merit of the unworthy
"takes when he himself
might his quietus make with a bare bodkin?"
That's nice, David.
"Who would fardels bear,
"to grunt and sweat under weary life,
"but that the threat
"of something after death,
"the undiscovered country
"from whose bourn and no traveller returns,
"puzzles the will
"and makes us rather bear those ills we have
than fly to others that we know not of?"
In the second book of "the Republic,"
Plato says, "what will happen to the just man,
should he enter this world?"
Well, the just man will be scourged, racked, chained.
Then after every kind of misery,
he will be crucified on a pole for all to see.
Any questions?
I've got a question.
Do you mind?
Sure.
My question --
if the just man is treated as you say,
then what's the just response?
Roll over and let evil have its wicked way?
Well, what would you recommend, major?
Oh, I'd recommend defiance.
Justice for the captors.
An eye for an eye.
At what price mercy?
Yeah, mercy --
the last bastion of traitors and cowards.
So, you would take a man
and crucify him on a pole for all to see?
I would seek justice.
Any of you?
Sergeant major?
Blood transfusions.
Donations gratefully accepted.
Why are you here?
What do you mean?
You don't seem to fit.
Why am I here? That's a good question.
Before the war...
...I had a fight with a man in a pub.
It was a pretty nasty fight.
He was, uh, paralyzed.
When he came to the police, he refused to press charges.
He...
Just forgave me.
I couldn't understand why.
Then he told me.
He'd been forgiven a debt in his past.
He wanted to do the same for me.
He gave me my Bible.
Told me my punishment was to read it.
Some punishment.
He was an army officer.
That's why I'm here.
Man: Heave!
Heave!
Major Campbell was a natural leader amongst men.
He seemed to draw them from all nationalities and groups,
and he had a way with uniting them in a common cause --
his common cause.
Better get two more hours.
Ian: The guards change between 5:00 and half-5:00
every single day, so we have to be there, men.
Sorry, major.
Are we interrupting a church service?
So, what's the story?
Major, let's say your plan works, right?
You've confiscated the guns, captured the guards,
taken over the whole camp.
What then?
You have still nowhere to go.
And when the nips find out,
we'll have a regiment 1,000 strong
descend on us with a vengeance.
You can't possibly hope to survive.
Who's talking about survival?
So that's what this is -- a suicide mission.
Come here.
So, what are you gonna do, eh?
What are you gonna do?
You're gonna throw yourself at the mercy of bushido?
Aye, now, that would be suicide.
Save us the crap, major.
Ian: Huh?
Oh, didn't he tell you?
Some of his best trades are with the japs.
Well, how'd you think they get such good medicine?
Ain't that right, yanker?!
You tell them, yanker, eh?
Huh?
You are endangering the life of every man in this camp.
I don't think they agree with your idea of justice.
So, what, are you the voice of the people now, eh?
Or you may be just a wee bit too jap happy
for your own good.
Ernie...
We argylls have got to stick together.
And you know that's what the colonel would say.
Good boy.
Dusty: "Greater love hath no man than this,
"that a man lay down his life for his friends.
"You have heard that it was said
that you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy."
"But I say to you,
love your enemy, and pray for those who persecute you."
"For what shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world,
but loses his soul?"
"Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?"
You're making a terrible mistake.
I can get you anything you want --
American chocolate, whiskey, American cig--
how about a watch?
The major imagined reardon a threat.
To him, a man without a sense of duty,
loyal to no one but himself, is already a traitor.
Please. Please!
It's my school.
It's -- it's my school!
Major Campbell struck a deal with the japs.
I was to be left alone.
In his mind, this was not considered betrayal.
The school had delayed his plans.
Men were changing their minds.
And dusty had been the catalyst.
This book
teaches to turn the other cheek.
We read these books,
and we become better slaves for the emperor.
You did ask for it, Ernie.
Well, maybe I should have quoted something
from the song of songs, eh?
Takashi: He says the book is superstition.
Captain noguchi says the railroad progress
is too slow.
He received orders from headquarters,
requiring us to finish six months earlier
than it was scheduled.
Honorable sir, that's -- that --
takashi: You are dismissed.
Superstition.
♪ I'm a yankee doodle dandy
♪ yankee doodle, do or die
♪ a real live nephew of my Uncle Sam ♪
♪ born on the fourth of July
♪ I've got a yankee doodle sweetheart ♪
♪ she's my yankee doodle joy
♪ yankee doodle came to London
♪ just to ride the ponies!
♪ I am that yankee doodle boy!
I'm still alive, you jap bastards!
You can understand that, can't you?!
They could take away our books and classes,
but we were determined they couldn't take away
what we had learned in our university.
Dusty led some of the men out of the death house
to help trawl water.
His example of what we were learning
inspired us to work like never before.
And our captors noticed.
As for the major, we refused to get even with him,
to pay him back in kind.
And it began to eat at him.
Captain noguchi says he gives you your books back
for you to keep learning.
Captain noguchi graciously gives you these gifts
for being good workers.
Man: What is it?
We're back in business, lads!
Oi, these are three years old.
Yeah, Japanese import laws.
There's mail in here!
Man: Oh! Let me see it!
From that day on, yanker never spoke much.
Something had changed inside him.
It was hard to tell whether it was for the better...
Or the worse.
Chip chip, muckers.
Graduation ceremonies are coming.
I want a tip-top performance out of you.
Continue.
Gentlemen, let's continue.
"...marked to die, we are enough to do our country loss.
"And if to live, the fewer men the greater share of honor.
"He that shall live, and see old age,
"then shall he strip his sleeve and show his scars
"and say, 'these wounds I had on crispin's day.'
old men forget, yet all shall be forgot."
But he'll..."
Meat! Meat!
Beef!
Yanker decided to join us.
A bit late in the term, but eager to catch up.
You're a good teacher.
What's your name?
I'm nagase --
takashi nagase.
Hello, takashi.
I'm Ernest.
I've actually been wondering
where you learned such excellent English.
I was educated at Cambridge.
To be a good translator,
I thought one must understand the culture.
So, what do you think of the British?
I think there is a lot to learn from them.
And can I ask you, honorable takashi,
what you're doing here in this camp?
I-I was classified low physical fitness.
Prisoner-of-war camp
is not honorable place for a Japanese soldier.
It is more like punishment.
Shame for his entire family.
Well, what about sergeant ito?
Surely he's the consummate soldier.
He accepted the blame
for the bad decision that his superior made.
It resulted in the deaths of most of his squad.
Right. So that's why he's so bitter?
No.
In bushido, it is an honor
to be punished in place of your superior.
According to our imperial rescript,
in the emperor's army,
a single life weighs less than a feather.
No matter how good things got,
we were still slaves building a railway,
being starved to death.
Thousands of us in a dozen other prison camps, as well.
And as if that weren't enough,
the major and his dangerous plan
seemed ready to explode at any moment.
It was a sobering thought when we realized
we weren't the only slaves
being used in the name of the emperor.
They called them "comfort women" --
spoils of Japanese conquest.
Man: Ooh-hoo!
A conquest whose original intent
was to purify the spirit...
Where the true warrior
deems his sword the soul of bushido --
the key of heaven and hell...
A symbol of what he carries in his heart -- loyalty and honor.
We finished the railroad in October of 1943...
...six months ahead of schedule.
A real cause for celebration.
Like we were told in the very beginning,
they built it over the white man's body.
Those damned yellow mongoloid nips,
acting as if they built the bloody thing.
Bloody railway of death.
That's the least of our concerns.
What do you mean?
We built the railway.
Don't need us anymore.
Those of you to the right of me
will be immediately transferred to another camp.
It seemed like the final hindrance to the major's plan.
Half of his men were split apart that day,
sent away, never seen again.
Takashi: Attention, all prisoners.
There is a shovel missing from the toolshed.
The one who has taken the shovel, return it now.
If the shovel is not returned,
the entire camp will suffer punishment.
You will respect us.
The shovel was found.
There was a miscount -- a simple, bloody miscount.
You are dismissed.
What would compel a man once so selfish
to sacrifice himself for others?
Boys, I can't feel my legs.
I can't feel my legs.
Tonight's the graduation ceremony.
Japs have all been invited.
That means a slim to zero chance
of anyone being left in the guardhouse.
Major, you're not still planning on going through with this?
There's only six of us.
We lost six men.
I thought it was near impossible with 12.
God in heaven knows we haven't got a chance with six.
Now you're privy to the mind of God in heaven?
Well, no, but...
I will not tolerate double-mindedness.
I'm staying.
Well, that leaves five.
Don't worry, boys.
You don't worry, boys.
We'll have our justice.
Ernest: Major Charlie Fraser, language.
Sergeant bingo Johnson, philosophy.
And last, but by no means least
private Wallace Hamilton, ethics.
Gentlemen...
The graduates from our jungle university.
Well, let the festivities begin.
The music we heard that night was less than perfect.
In fact, it was bloody terrible.
But we didn't care.
In our hearts, we heard what it could be.
We heard the true spirit of the music,
and that was pure freedom.
♪ Drawn by thee, our souls aspiring ♪
♪ soar to uncreated light
♪ word of God, our flesh that fashioned ♪
♪ with the fire of life impassioned ♪
♪ soaring, dying 'round thy throne ♪
"If we are marked to die,
we are enough to do our country loss."
Man: Guard, guard!
Down, down!
Man #2: Come on. Come, now.
Glad you could make it.
The bloody music was bloody awful.
"He that shall see this day and live old age
"shall stand at tip-toe when this day is named.
"Then shall he strip his sleeve and show his scars
"and say..."
Man: There's no ammo in this thing!
Ian: Find it!
"Old men forget, yet all shall be forgot."
Shh, shh, shh!
It's a b-24.
It's liberators.
How can you be sure?
It's unmistakable, that.
Sweet music.
It's liberators!
Allied aircraft.
They couldn't see us, but we could sure hear them,
and we knew that the war was turning.
Me arse!
Takashi: Attention, prisoners.
These men are guilty of murdering two guards
who represent the imperial army...
Give us this day our daily bread.
...and conspiracy to commit insurrection.
They have violated the mercy of the emperor
and his venerable sergeant.
Such deeds must be punished.
Honorable sergeant ito
will now dispense with the prescribed and just punishment.
Thy kingdom come, thy will be done.
Give us this day our daily bread.
Major.
Amen.
Bastard.
Ito.
Dusty?
What are you saying?
What are you saying?!
Dusty?
No!
No! Dusty!
Major!
Major, what did he say?
Major, please, what did dusty say?
Major!
Oh.
My boys.
Sorry.
No, no, no!
No! No!
No.
Superstition.
Do it.
Ernest: Dusty!
Dusty!
When dusty Miller died,
something in the hearts and minds of every man
died with him.
What we had somehow managed
to hold on to for years of survival
now seemed utterly meaningless,
like God himself was playing a cruel joke on us all...
...until I remembered dusty's words so very long ago --
"except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die,
"it abideth alone.
But if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit."
I never found out what dusty said to ito that day,
but I knew I had witnessed the power of forgiveness.
Takashi: Attention.
Soon all inferior races
will bow before the majesty of the emperor
and the knights of the bushido.
When we heard the planes again,
we thought our deliverance had finally arrived.
And then it happened.
Hail, knights of bullshitto!
Our own allies thought we were the enemy.
Give me your hand.
Go! I'm fine! Help the other men!
Help! Somebody!
Help me, Ernie!
Just don't look at it, man! Don't look at it!
It's nothing. It's nothing!
Don't look at it, man!
They thought we was nips, Ernie!
I almost made it!
I got killed by my own side, Ernie!
You're not killed. You're wounded.
They thought we was nips!
Don't leave me, man.
Don't you leave me, man. Don't you leave me, man.
Don't leave me, man.
Stay with me, man. Stay with me, man!
Stay with me, man!
No!
An enemy location was also hit nearby.
The wounded had abandoned their posts, looking for help.
Their arrival at our camp would compel us
to make the most important decision of our lives --
a decision that would defy the bushido code
of honor and shame.
Hai.
Ernest.
Captain Gordon, I forbid you
to give comfort and aid to the enemy.
Major, those are wounded, dying human beings.
They're no harm to us.
Ernie, get back to your own men.
Can someone please get me some water?
Could someone please get me some water?!
We were left alone by our captors.
Nowhere to go.
Nothing to do.
An uncertain future, with only a makeshift radio left behind,
hoping for any word from the outside.
"To all allied prisoners of war.
"The Japanese forces have surrendered unconditionally,
and the war is over."
Foxworth: "For he today that sheds his blood with me
shall be my brother."
"Be he ne'er so vile, this day shall gentle his condition."
"From this day to the ending of the world,
"but we in it shall be remembered.
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers."
Where are the guards?
Th-they left.
Fled into the jungle...
From us.
Which direction?
I have no idea.
You're a man of true principle and devotion.
And, you know, I want to be just like you.
Just like you.
Ernest: Major Campbell.
Hey, Ernie.
You're just in time.
You're making a mistake.
No.
I'm making justice, man.
Making justice.
Don't you think I want this?
Eh?
We all deserve to see him suffer,
but this is not right.
Hmm?
Aye.
Oh!
You stupid, stupid wee boy!
Stupid wee boy!
God forgive me!
Oh, God forgive me!
Oh, God forgive me, son!
Forgive me, son.
No!
What is the consequence of a single life
weighing less than a feather?
Bastard!
War is the final destination of hatred.
When you look in the eyes of the enemy,
and you see yourself...
Come here.
...at what price mercy?
Who is my neighbor?
How many times shall I forgive my brother?
What does it mean to love one's enemies?
What can a man give in exchange for his soul?
These are the questions that I faced in my prison camp.
The answers changed my life forever.
♪ Find the place
♪ where the swords cannot go
♪ where the guns can no longer be heard ♪
♪ find the place
♪ where the flames cannot burn