My father was a prisoner on the death railway so the film had a special meaning for me. I think that it was a pretty accurate portrayal of what happened - obviously much more truthful than Lean's River Kwai epic. I don't think that it really had a message - other than to depict man's inhumanity to man. I did not find it uplifting in any way - and I am rather thankful for that. There can be no justification whatsoever for the treatment of the allied prisoners and local slave labour. The code of the Bushido might explain the obscenities that occurred - but it is not a justification. My father went to his grave hating the Japanese and that is hardly surprising. No forgive and forget for him.<br /><br />