Summaries

Synopsis

Dec 1941, Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor and US entered WWII. 10 hrs later, they attacked the Philippines. 10K Americans and 60K Philippinos retreated to the Bataan peninsula. With no navy to rescue them, they were trapped. US decided to focus on Europe and Hitler first.Gen McCarthur is forced to leave the Philippines to Australia and he vows to return. After 4 months, surviving US and Philippino troops surrender to the Japanese Imperial Army. Japanese cant house 70K POWs and hike them on a 60 mile march. 15K men died on what became known as the Bataan death march. Survivors are herded into camps at O'Donnell, Cabanatuan and Palawan.Thousands more die from death, abuse and starvation. By 1944, the tide changes with US victory in Europe.Us focuses on Japan and Japanese become more desperate. They prepare to defend their country to the death (fueled by propaganda that Americans will show no mercy)

In Aug 1944, Tokyo war ministry releases a memo on policy towards POWs. Policy is to kill them all and not leave any traces. The film opens with the massacre of prisoners of war on Palawan by the Kempeitai, the Imperial Japanese military's secret police (though factually, it was committed by the Japanese Fourteenth Area Army). Kampeitai put POWs inside air raid shelters, block it from both sides, and set fire to it..

Set in the Philippines in 1945 towards the end of WWII, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Henry Mucci (Benjamin Bratt) and Captain Robert Prince (James Franco), the 6th Ranger Battalion (based in Luzon, Philippines) undertake a daring rescue mission against all odds. Traveling thirty miles behind enemy lines, they intend to liberate over 500 American Soldiers from the notorious Cabanatuan Japanese POW camp in the most audacious rescue ever.In the winter of 1944, World War II was coming to a close. The Japanese held some of the American prisoners who had survived the Bataan Death March in a notorious POW camp at Cabanatuan and subjected them to harsh treatment; many prisoners were also stricken with malaria. At the time of the raid the camp held about 500 prisoners.

Meanwhile at Lingayen Gulf, the 6th Ranger Battalion under Lt. Col Mucci is ordered by Lt. Gen. Walter Krueger (Dale Dye) to liberate all of the POWs at Cabanatuan prison camp before they are killed by the Japanese. The film chronicles the efforts of the Rangers, Alamo Scouts from the 6th Army and Filipino guerrillas as they undertake the Raid at Cabanatuan.Major Robert Lapham (Brett Tucker) is a stay behind from the Bataan campaign and has organized Filipino guerrillas as a source of intel for the US forces. Lapham says as US forces advance Japanese are likely to murder the 500 men at Cabanatuan, rather than release them. The men at Palawan were killed on the rumor that McCarthur had invaded. Prince is to design the raid plan. Lapham says that the toughest part is the last 800 yards, with no cover, only plain open land, leading to the POW camp.

Throughout the film, the viewpoint switches between the POWs at Cabanatuan, the Rangers, the Filipino resistance and the Japanese.The POWs are Cabanatuan are led by Major Daniel Gibson (Joseph Fiennes) and Captain Redding (Marton Csokas). Daniel contacts Margaret via the Philippino resistance. Margaret is the wife of Daniel's CO, who died in combat. Daniel has feelings for Margaret, but never acted on them.In particular, the film covers the resistance work undertaken by nurse Margaret Utinsky (Connie Nielsen), who smuggled medicine into the POW camps (she risks her life in Manila to procure the Quinine). The Kempeitai arrested her and sent her to Fort Santiago prison.

Mucci green lights Prince's plan. Corporal Alridge (Clayne Crawford) & Private First Class Lucas (Sam Worthington) are given a mortar to carry. Meanwhile the Japanese Army retreats from Cabanatuan. The POWs think McCarthur got them on the run. In the officer's mess they find tons of provisions meant for the POWs (Japanese were starving them deliberately). Shortly thereafter the Kempeitai move in and take control of the camp. Daniel is told by Lieutenant Hikobe (Masa Yamaguchi) to cooperate till the US forces arrive, but he intends to kill all POWs (he was there at Palawan).Meanwhile Mucci's forces are 11 miles away from the POW and making slow progress due to movement of 30K Japanese troops in the area. Mucci reaches a village where he meets Captain Juan Pajota (Cesar Montano) of Philippino army. The Japanese had killed 100 people in the village, for helping Juan's men.Mucci also rendezvous with Lapham and his men who come with more intel on the camp, but the exact details are still missing. Juan tells them to delay the attack on the camp since a whole division of Japanese Army is likely to pass in front of the camp in the next 24 hrs. Juan tells Prince that most of the POWs are crippled or sick and they will need carts to move them and bring them back to Platero village.

Hikobe gets news from Manila on Margaret's arrest and tries to get Daniel to confess and give the names of her collaborators. Daniel refuses. He is sick with malaria.Hikobe had captured Margaret already and hence all quinine stolen by her was also confiscated. Her courier to Cabanatuan was also captured and killed. Thus, no medicine was making its way to the POW camps. Hokibe receives the fuel shipments and awaits orders from Tokyo to liquidate prisoners.

Redding tries to escape and is captured. Hokibe kills 10 POWs as a lesson to the rest. The day before the raid, Juan confirms that the camp has over 300 Japanese and just 1/2 mile away from the camp is a large Japanese Army contingent with over 1000 men. That contingent is just beyond a small bridge that Mucci has to hold, if he has any hope of attacking the camp.Juan and his men volunteer to hold the bridge by damaging it with explosives and positioning his men at the other side of the bridge to catch the Japanese in a crossfire. The raid starts at 1730 .. Mucci arranges for a plane to fly over the camp at that time, to distract the guards and allowing his men to low crawl close to the camp's main gate. units are deployed to hold the bridge and the highway on the other side of the camp. Prince will be the last man out.

Lieutenant Riley (Craig McLachlan) is to start the raid at 1930 hours once he is in position on the main gate. But he sends recon to check if all other teams are in place. this causes a 10 mins delay. Rily takes the first shot. Juan and his men blow up the bridge. Altridge and Lucas blow up the trucks and the tanks inside the camp.Things go to plan and the Japanese soldiers at the camp are neutralized and the rescue begins. Mucci protects the flanks of Juan and his men as he holds the bridge. Hokibe tries to kill the POWs via mortar fire, but Riley flanks Hokibe's position and gets into hand-to-hand combat with him. Riley kills Hokibe with his own gun.Prince signals the end of the raid with a red flare over the camp. 2 men died in the raid.By the next day, the POWs reach American front lines. Margaret comes to meet Daniel, but Daniel doesn't survive the night. 511 POWs were rescued. 21 Philippino resistance fighters were killed.Mucci and Prince were awarded the Distinguished service cross for leading the raid.

Margaret was eventually released but spent six weeks recovering from gangrene as a result of injuries sustained from beatings. Once recovered, she escaped to Bataan, where she served as a nurse with the Philippine Commonwealth troops and recognized guerrilla units until liberation in February 1945.