At what price mercy? This question lies at the heart of the movie To End All Wars based on the book by Ernest Gordon. A true story about Allied POWs enduring harsh treatment in a Japanese prison camp while being forced to build a railroad through the Burmese jungle. The story serves as the vehicle for a brief but penetrating look into some of the larger questions life has to offer:

At what price mercy?
What is the final destination of hatred?
What does it look like to witness the power of forgiveness?

What is perhaps most shocking about the movie is that it was made at all. Hollywood is not known for its redeeming qualities, much less for promoting explicitly Christian messages. Yet here it is: an exposition of the Christian Gospel of mercy and forgiveness that many raised on the pop spirituality of feel-good self-helpers such as Joel Osteen will likely be repulsed. The power of forgiveness at work is a beautiful thing, yet we must be willing to wade through the mud and the blood before we are able to understand the beauty.

The movie forces us to examine ourselves as well. How would I respond if given the chance for vengeance after being mercilessly starved, beaten, forced to hard labor, and having witnessed friends and commanders brutally murdered? While I pay lip-service to the ideal of turning the other cheek, how far am I able to walk in the footsteps of my Savior who endured all this and more for the sake of sinners such as myself?

More practically, do I understand the power of forgiveness and the high price of mercy in my own life and heart? Does it really sink in that God made him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (2 Corinthians 5:21)?

We are also forced with issues closer to home (or at least closer to the home television). The movie does use explicit language and violent and graphic imagery. As such, many well-intentioned parents will shield both themselves and their children from it. Yet these same parents often turn to the entertainment industry for G-rated entertainment filled with subversive messages. We must honestly ask ourselves which is more profitable for the soul: to watch men struggle to live out the brutal reality of forgiving as they have been forgiven or to listen to a lion subtly sing the siren-song of the new age to catchy beats?

While it is not an easy film to watch, we must admit that it is a forceful reminder that our salvation was not easily won.

Learn more about World War 2.
Learn more about the Death Railway.
Read the book.
Watch the trailer.
Buy the DVD.
Read Ernest Gordon’s obituary in the Daily Princetonian.
Read an interesting review in World magazine.