The Great Raid is a 2005 war film about the Raid at Cabanatuan on the island of Luzon, Philippines during World War II. It is directed by John Dahl and stars Benjamin Bratt, James Franco, Connie Nielsen, Marton Csokas, Joseph Fiennes with Motoki Kobayashi and Cesar Montano. The principal photography took place from July 4 to November 6, 2002, but its release was delayed several times from the original target of fall 2003. The film received mixed reviews from critics and was a commercial failure. The film showcases the efforts of American soldiers and the Filipino resistance guerrilla, rescuing Allied prisoners of war from a Japanese POW camp. Plot In 1945, American forces were closing in on the Japanese-occupied Philippines. The Japanese held around 500 American prisoners who had survived the Bataan Death March in a notorious POW camp at Cabanatuan and subjected them to brutal treatment and summary execution, as the Japanese code of bushido viewed surrender as a disgrace. Many prisoners were also stricken with malaria. The film opens with the massacre of prisoners of war on Palawan by the Kempeitai, the Imperial Japanese military's secret police (though it was committed by the Japanese Fourteenth Area Army). At Lingayen Gulf, the 6th Ranger Battalion under Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Mucci is ordered by Lt. Gen. Walter Krueger 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 Sixth Army and Filipino guerrillas as they undertake the Raid at Cabanatuan. Throughout the film, the viewpoint switches between the POWs at Cabanatuan, the Rangers, the Filipino resistance and the Japanese. The film covers the resistance work undertaken by nurse Margaret Utinsky, who smuggled medicine into the POW camps. The Kempeitai arrested her and sent her to Fort Santiago prison. She was eventually released but spent six weeks recovering from gangrene as a result of injuries sustained from beatings. The movie ends with the prisoners being liberated. Cast Benjamin Bratt as Lieutenant Colonel Henry Mucci James Franco as Captain Robert Prince Connie Nielsen as Margaret Utinsky Marton Csokas as Captain Redding Joseph Fiennes as Major Daniel Gibson Mark Consuelos as Corporal Guttierez Max Martini as 1st Sergeant Sid Wojo Logan Marshall-Green as Lieutenant Paul Colvin Robert Mammone as Captain Jimmy Fisher Cesar Montano as Captain Juan Pajota James Carpinello as Corporal Aliteri Clayne Crawford