TO END ALL WARS

I watched "To End All Wars" yesterday. It's a WW2 movie about the Japanese POW camps. It was incredibly moving and (I think) very well done. Every Christian (who is teen age and older) should watch this film! It's gritty, dirty, has bad words (one of which my Scottish friend told me NEVER to repeat again in public), has seriously injured people, and has the strongest message of forgiveness that I have ever seen in a film. (For all you anime lovers, this film gives an interesting insight to how Japanese people [use to] think.)

Perhaps one of the more interesting things to watch was the "Making of" on this film. They used well-known Japanese actors to play the wardens of the POW camps. It was interesting listening to these Japanese actors explain why they decided to play in a film that portrayed thier country in a less than positive light. One of them said that they had hoped this film would educated the generations of Japanese people who came after the war. Apparently these POW camps were swept under the rug by the government and even out right denied that they ever existed. So there are generations of Japanese who don't know what they government was doing during WW2.

Like I said, there were strong themes of forgiveness. This is not the pansy forgiveness you get now from feel-good Christianity, or the weak pointless forgiveness of New Age religions. This is strong solid forgiveness that makes you weep because you can't believe that it happened. But it did happen, because this stuff isn't made up. Someone really went through all that and someone really forgave it all.

I did weep. I wept like a baby. But how could I not weep? The weakness and strength of those men are my own! It touched me so deeply.

And I guess that's why this film really never made a big splash. Who wants to watch a film that makes you think? Who wants to watch a film that makes your heart ache in guilt? Who wants to watch a movie about the most pure form of forgiveness shown to man? Certainly not the people of this nation!

What a world I live in! That I should know people who would not care or understand the message of this film. It would go right over their heads, and they would not even know enough to be ashamed of themselves. What a sad, pointless, and cruel world I live in. God help us all for our spiritual negligance.

So, yes, see this film. It's not for children, but it's good for everyone else. I hope it touches your heart the way it did mine.