it be not until the end of the film that i discover that this be a real life account of the horror suffer by the allied pow build the burma railroad . no film can ever show how terrible it be and despite the attempt to film in sequence with the actor diet in order to lose weight a time go on . the actor would have have to do three year manual labor in the jungle heat for 18 hour a day on 1 and 000 ( or less ) calorie meatless slop and while suffer dysentery and beri beri and pellagra and tropical ulcer and regular beating and other cruelty and all the time unaware of what be happen at home or how the war be go . they live under the constant fear of be kill once they be no longer useful . by the time they be liberate the survivor be walk skeleton . it be a credit to the filmmaker that this relatively low budget movie conveys this terrible period so well and the fo . this should be a must see in school history class .