This harrowing, but beautifully made and powerfully performed, PoW movie revisits the scene of The Bridge on the River Kwai, where captured Allied troops were forced under extreme conditions of cruelty to build a railway through the harsh jungle of Burma and Thailand for the Japanese during World War Two. This truth-based story focuses on one man - Captain Ernest Gordon of the 93rd Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders - and his comrades in captivity. Ciaran McMenamin is touching and mesmeric as Ernest, who finds himself at odds with his hotheaded commander Major Iain Campbell (Robert Carlyle), when he starts a 'Jungle University' teaching the liberal arts and encouraging his fellow prisoners to forgive their enemies. There are many shocking and desperate moments, and the entire cast - in particular Mark Strong and Kiefer Sutherland - deliver a truly memorable film that's all the more upsetting for its realism.

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