To End All Wars Page #4

---

hath no man than this,

"that a man lay down his life

for his friends.

"You have heard

that it was said

that you shall love your

neighbor and hate your enemy."

"But I say to you,

love your enemy, and pray

for those who persecute you."

"For what shall it profit a man

if he gains the whole world,

but loses his soul?"

"Or what will a man

give in exchange for his soul?"

You're making

a terrible mistake.

I can get you

anything you want --

American chocolate, whiskey,

American cig--

how about a watch?

The major imagined reardon

a threat.

To him, a man

without a sense of duty,

loyal to no one but himself,

is already a traitor.

Please.

Please!

It's my school.

It's -- it's my school!

Major Campbell

struck a deal with the japs.

I was to be left alone.

In his mind, this was not

considered betrayal.

The school had delayed

his plans.

Men were changing their minds.

And dusty had been

the catalyst.

This book

teaches to turn

the other cheek.

We read these books,

and we become better slaves

for the emperor.

You did ask for it,

Ernie.

Well, maybe I should have quoted

something

from the song of songs,

eh?

Takashi:
He says

the book is superstition.

Captain noguchi says

the railroad progress

is too slow.

He received orders

from headquarters,

requiring us to finish

six months earlier

than it was scheduled.

Honorable sir, that's --

that --

takashi:

You are dismissed.

Superstition.

I'm a yankee doodle dandy

yankee doodle, do or die

a real live nephew

of my Uncle Sam

born on the fourth of July

I've got

a yankee doodle sweetheart

she's my yankee doodle joy

yankee doodle came to London

just to ride the ponies!

I am that yankee doodle boy!

I'm still alive,

you jap bastards!

You can understand that,

can't you?!

They could take away

our books and classes,

but we were determined

they couldn't take away

what we had learned

in our university.

Dusty led some of the men

out of the death house

to help trawl water.

His example

of what we were learning

inspired us to work

like never before.

And our captors noticed.

As for the major, we refused

to get even with him,

to pay him back in kind.

And it began to eat at him.

Captain noguchi says

he gives you your books back

for you

to keep learning.

Captain noguchi graciously

gives you these gifts

for being good workers.

Man:
What is it?

We're back in business,

lads!

Oi, these

are three years old.

Yeah,

Japanese import laws.

There's mail in here!

Man:
Oh!

Let me see it!

From that day on,

yanker never spoke much.

Something had changed

inside him.

It was hard to tell whether

it was for the better...

Or the worse.

Chip chip, muckers.

Graduation ceremonies

are coming.

I want a tip-top performance

out of you.

Continue.

Gentlemen, let's continue.

"...marked to die, we are enough

to do our country loss.

"And if to live, the fewer men

the greater share of honor.

"He that shall live,

and see old age,

"then shall he strip his sleeve

and show his scars

"and say, 'these wounds I had

on crispin's day.'

old men forget,

yet all shall be forgot."

But he'll..."

Meat! Meat!

Beef!

Yanker decided to join us.

A bit late in the term,

but eager to catch up.

You're a good teacher.

What's your name?

I'm nagase --

takashi nagase.

Hello, takashi.

I'm Ernest.

I've actually been wondering

where you learned

such excellent English.

I was educated

at Cambridge.

To be a good translator,

I thought one must understand

the culture.

So, what do you think

of the British?

I think there is a lot

to learn from them.

And can I ask you,

honorable takashi,

what you're doing here

in this camp?

I-I was classified

low physical fitness.

Prisoner-of-war camp

is not honorable place

for a Japanese soldier.

It is

more like punishment.

Shame

for his entire family.

Well, what about

sergeant ito?

Surely he's

the consummate soldier.

He accepted the blame

for the bad decision

that his superior made.

It resulted in the deaths

of most of his squad.

Right.

So that's why he's so bitter?

No.

In bushido, it is an honor

to be punished

in place of your superior.

According to

our imperial rescript,

in the emperor's army,

a single life

weighs less than a feather.

No matter how good things got,

we were still slaves

building a railway,

being starved to death.

Thousands of us in a dozen

other prison camps, as well.

And as if that weren't enough,

the major

and his dangerous plan

seemed ready to explode

at any moment.

It was a sobering thought

when we realized

we weren't the only slaves

being used

in the name of the emperor.

They called them

"comfort women" --

spoils of Japanese conquest.

Man:
Ooh-hoo!

A conquest

whose original intent

was to purify the spirit...

Where the true warrior

deems his sword

the soul of bushido --

the key of heaven and hell...

A symbol of what he carries in

his heart -- loyalty and honor.

We finished the railroad

in October of 1943...

...six months

ahead of schedule.

A real cause for celebration.

Like we were told

in the very beginning,

they built it

over the white man's body.

Those damned yellow

mongoloid nips,

acting as if they built

the bloody thing.

Bloody railway of death.

That's the least

of our concerns.

What do you mean?

We built the railway.

Don't need us anymore.

Those of you

to the right of me

will be immediately transferred

to another camp.

It seemed like the final

hindrance to the major's plan.

Half of his men

were split apart that day,

sent away, never seen again.

Takashi:

Attention, all prisoners.

There is a shovel

missing from the toolshed.

The one who has taken

the shovel, return it now.

If the shovel

is not returned,

the entire camp

will suffer punishment.

You will respect us.

The shovel was found.

There was a miscount --

a simple, bloody miscount.

You are dismissed.

What would compel a man

once so selfish

to sacrifice himself

for others?

Boys, I can't feel my legs.

I can't feel my legs.

Tonight's

the graduation ceremony.

Japs have all been invited.

That means

a slim to zero chance

of anyone

being left in the guardhouse.

Major, you're not still planning

on going through with this?

There's only six of us.

We lost six men.

I thought

it was near impossible with 12.

God in heaven knows we haven't

got a chance with six.

Now you're privy to the mind

of God in heaven?

Well, no, but...

I will not tolerate

double-mindedness.

I'm staying.

Well, that leaves five.

Don't worry, boys.

You don't worry, boys.

We'll have

our justice.

Ernest:
Major Charlie Fraser,

language.

Sergeant bingo Johnson,

philosophy.

And last,

but by no means least

private Wallace Hamilton,

ethics.

Gentlemen...

The graduates

from our jungle university.

Well, let the festivities

begin.

The music we heard that night

was less than perfect.

In fact,

it was bloody terrible.

But we didn't care.

In our hearts,

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes