Women of Valor (1986), produced and directed by Buzz Kulik (from a script by Jonas McCord), attempts to tell the little known story about the hardships and courage of Women in the U.S. Military while imprisoned by the Japanese during WWII.
Col. Margaret Ann Jessup (Susan Sarandon) is a now retired Army nurse appearing before Congress to testify about women serving in combat. There in the hearing she is able to give a full and honest account of the adversity that she and fellow female officers had endured at the hands of the Japanese during the war. Then Lt. Jessup was a head nurse serving in the Army in the Philippines before the war began. She and her fellow nurses (Alberta Watson, Valerie Mahaffey, and Suzanne Lederer) become trapped in the islands when the Japanese begin their invasion of the Philippines. As they flee, attempting to evade the Japanese they happen upon T.J. Nolan (Kristy McNichol), an American civilian also trapped behind enemy lines, she reluctantly joins their group. For a time the remnants of the American forces are able to evade capture while also operating a badly needed field hospital for the Army, but eventually as the American armed forces in the Philippines get weaker the enemy becomes stronger, an American surrender to the Japanese is inevitable. After a long struggle they are finally forced to surrender becoming prisoners of war, and much like their fellow male prisoners they are treated with considerable cruelty. First they are mercilessly marched to a P.O.W. camp, a camp they will have to endure for over the next two years. The camp, commanded by an American educated officer, Capt. Matome Nakayama (Patrick Bishop) respects his adversary but will not accept any disobedience to his strict rules. Overseeing the camp's daily operation is his right hand man Sgt. Kodama (Gô Awazu), whose hatred for the enemy is only matched by his brutality. Lt. Jessup must now fight for her life as well as the lives of the other prisoners there, with only one appreciable goal, to survive.
Susan Sarandon stars and narrates this drama that while not based on a true story does use real incidents that had occurred during the war. So even though it is not "based on a true story" it does have many factual elements based on real occurrences, a conglomeration of what many American (as well as other Allied forces) women had to endure from their Japanese captors. Sarandon, as well as all of the supporting players do a very good job of bringing this story to life, a seldom told story about the bravery of women under combat conditions. Kristy McNichol co-stars as a tough loner that can take care of herself but ultimately decides to risk her life to stay with her new friends, out of friendship and love. She does an exceptional job in this part, which was a bit different than her typical film roles. Actor Terry O'Quinn also co-stars and does a great job as well, four years later he would star with Kristy again in the supernatural thriller The Forgotten One. Women of Valor is an interesting and inspiring look at a rarely seen part of American history, the story of the brave women that survived and triumphed under the harshest of conditions, conditions that anyone, man or woman, might ever have to face.
Buying note: This film was offered on both full screen VHS tape and DVD, both are now long out of print. The tape version is however much more readily available and less costly than the DVD version.
7-4-2007
