8/3/2019 Book review 'Through the valley of the Kwai' by Ernest Gordon

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This article was originally published in the October/November 2004 issue of The Catholic Radical 

(Worcester, Mass. USA)

Through the Valley of the Kwai

reviewed by Marc Tumeinski

Through the Valley of the Kwai by Ernest Gordon ( Harper & Brothers, New

York and London, 1962) is an autobiographical account of a World War II British

soldier who was interred in a series of Japanese prisoner-of-war camps. The story

hinges on the inspiring Christian conversions of the author and many of the other 

 prisoners. In places of horrific starvation, sickness, oppression, violence, despair,

suffering and death, we read of prisoners who, filled with Christ's graces,

embraced the Cross, served one another without counting the cost, renounced

vengeance, and forgave and even loved their enemies: the Japanese guards.

Gordon was a prisoner of war for 3 1/2 years. During that time, he saw

Japanese guards bayonet, shoot, drown, and decapitate his fellow prisoners. He

witnessed men being tortured (having their heads crushed, being tied up by their 

thumbs, buried alive, and even crucified), denied needed medical care, starved,

and worked beyond human capacity.

Such inhumane treatment drove many of the captured soldiers to despair, and

eventually to fear, selfishness, hatred and self-degradation. They looked out only

for themselves: “The weak were trampled underfoot, the sick ignored or resented,

the dead forgotten” (pg. 75). The men cursed the Japanese, each other, and God.

They humiliated one another. They stole from the sick, dying, and dead. Brutal

conditions in the camps reduced the prisoners to subhuman existence, drivingmany to embrace sin and death in all its forms.

Yet the living witness of a few of the prisoners, who sought to follow Christ

 by serving and loving one another, changed this. Some prisoners began to care for 

the sick and dying. They washed their sores, helped them walk, fed them. They

shared what little food they had with those who did not have any, even going

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without so that others could eat. Secure in the knowledge of Christ's promise of 

 peace (Jn. 14:27), some sacrificed themselves completely so that others could live:

a few died after giving all their food away; others were shot when they admitted

'guilt' for crimes they had never committed so that others would not be shot. They prayed with the sick and dying, buried the dead respectfully, and worshipped

together. These beautiful examples of Christian love brought many other prisoners

to conversion, and to practice the spiritual and corporal works of mercy

themselves.

Turning to Christ in the midst of such evil and suffering, to life in the face of 

death, brought many of these men to understand and embrace one of Christ's most

difficult commands -- the divine mandate to love their enemies, in this case the

Japanese guards, the very ones who had “starved us and beaten us” (pg. 222). In

 praying the 'Our Father,' they consciously prayed to forgive the Japanese guards.

Prisoners gave their own food and water to wounded Japanese soldiers. At the end

of the war, they even saved Japanese guards from being shot.

In these camps of evil, sin and death, men turned to Jesus, to His life and His

love. Our merciful Father helped them to clearly see their brother in their 

neighbor and even in their enemy, and to serve him. In the words of the author,

God had “set our feet on the way of an eternal pilgrimage and pointed us toward

an unchanging goal - to the source of life and the City of God” (pg. 215).

Through the Valley of the Kwai is an important book for all to read,

especially because it portrays so clearly Christ's message of nonviolent love of 

friend and enemy. It is rare to read such a heartfelt account of conversion, let

alone conversions that resulted in attempts to live out Jesus' command to love our 

enemies, particularly when such attempts risked immediate suffering and death.

The book clearly points out the organic connection between practicing the works

of mercy and peacemaking (Mt. 5:3-10). As well, the conversion of many soldiers

in the prisoner-of-war camps is an excellent illustration of Christian

evangelization by example, something which is sorely needed today.

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In 2001, the book was made into a movie entitled To End All Wars, starring

Robert Carlyle and Kiefer Sutherland (rated R, quite graphic so definitely not for 

kids). The movie in interspersed with actual photographs of WWII Japanese

 prisoner-of-war camps, and ends with contemporary footage of the book's author and one of the Japanese guards meeting one another in Thailand; Gordon had

 become a chapel dean at Princeton University, the guard had become a Buddhist

 priest. The movie deals with some of the themes in the book quite well; such as

forgiveness, love of enemies, and the choice between human justice and divine

mercy. It does not do as well as the book does in describing the conversions or the

importance of serving one another. It also takes out some of the Christian

understanding of why these men tried to love, serve and forgive one another and

their enemies. Some quite explicit Christian references are left in (pictures of 

crosses, mentions of church, Scripture quotes) but the book was much more

explicit in its faith orientation. I recommend the book more than the movie, or 

reading the book and seeing the movie, although watching the film alone still does

raise some very important and difficult questions.