On-campus film showing gives students a taste of the horrors of war.<o:p> </o:p>
By Courtney Hong<o:p> </o:p>
Staff Writer
There are films that skim only the surface layer of a viewer’s mind, if at all. Then there are those that pierce through the confines of the mind so sharply that the viewer has no choice but to be changed. <o:p></o:p>
“To End All Wars,” which is to be released in theaters early 2004, is the latter. <o:p></o:p>
Dr. Michael Gose, Great Books Colloquium and film professor, knew this after he witnessed the stunned reactions of his Sunday night film class students last winter. Thus, he jumped at the opportunity to bring it back to Pepperdine.<o:p> </o:p>
It had been an exclusive venue then, made possible Three soldiers hold three P.O.W.s at gunpoint in
by President Andrew ‘To End All Wars.’
Benton’s connections with
producer Jack Hafer, but Gose realized it was time to open up the floodgates of thought to the rest of this campus. <o:p></o:p>
Shown at 5:30 p.m. and 8 p.m. in Elkins on Sunday, “To End All Wars” (which has been entered into numerous film festivals) was made possible by Hafer. He made unrelenting efforts to bring the book of the same name, which had transformed his way of thinking as a college student in the 1980s, onto the big screen.<o:p> </o:p>
Taking the true story of four Allied prisoners of war (Capt. Ernest Gordon, Lt. Jim Reardon, British P.O.W. Dusty Miller and Maj. Ian Campbell) under the brutality of Japanese captors during World War II, the film pushes viewers to the mental limit. <o:p></o:p>
Gose’s passion for film has led him to take active steps in fostering a deeper level of communication among Pepperdine students, particularly where faith is involved. <o:p></o:p>
“I applaud the efforts of Dr. Gose in bringing to our campus a movie that would cause students to think about the deeper issues of life and to shock us to our senses,” commented Ezra Plank, resident director and director of the Spiritual Life Adviser Program, who is currently working on a master’s of divinity. <o:p></o:p>
Breaking the mold of the typical war movie, “To End All Wars” allows the topic of faith to be brought to the forefront on a universal level. It forces us to ask which road we would take if we were starved, beaten, surrounded by disease, forced into inhumane slave labor in foreign territory and witnessed our leader being murdered in cold blood. <o:p></o:p>
Would we choose the self and quench our desire to survive at whatever cost through our own strength? <o:p></o:p>
Or would we, as some characters did, take the narrow road and compel others to ask what could possess us to see the self as the least of our worries? <o:p></o:p>
The true war that rages in the film, then, is the one within. <o:p></o:p>
Though there may be no more appropriate time than the present to focus on the topic of warfare, the movie illustrates the fact that the magnitude of war covers up so many more questions that are difficult to ask, including why matters dealing with different worldviews often become an unnecessary controversy. <o:p></o:p>
In the film, Gordon is the narrator who is inspired by Miller to turn the other cheek to the enemy, even as he, like any human would, grapples with the meaning of forgiveness, justice, self-sacrifice and finding reason to live in the midst of unimaginable suffering. <o:p></o:p>
Campbell, on the other hand, saw revenge as the only route to justice. <o:p></o:p>
“What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul?” one soldier cites. <o:p></o:p>
When Campbell is about to be decapitated for his attempts to murder Japanese officials, Miller offers up his own life in exchange and is crucified. <o:p></o:p>
“Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends,” another quotes. <o:p></o:p>
Is this justice? <o:p></o:p>
Gordon quotes Scripture from the Gospels of John and Matthew throughout the movie, but parading the Christian worldview is not the point. It is difficult to deny, however, that Jesus Christ’s call to love sacrificially is exemplified in a human being. <o:p></o:p>
Aside from what title we put to our beliefs, do we have convictions that would motivate us to do the same?<o:p> </o:p>
Gose, in light of Socrates’ words, put it profoundly when he said, “The unexamined film is not worth having watched.” <o:p></o:p>
More so than that, maybe it’s time for us to examine ourselves. <o:p></o:p>
For more information about “To End All Wars,” visit www.argyllfilms.com.
October 23, 2003