August 23, 2005

The new movie "The Great Raid" tells an inspiring true story from World War II about 121 Army Rangers going 30 miles behind Japanese lines to rescue POW's who had survived the Bataan Death March.

With a talented cast led by Joseph Fiennes and Benjamin Bratt, the movie avoids over-the-top Hollywood clichés, focusing instead on everyday heroism of men in uniform.

Most critics, however, hated this picture.

This negativity reflects political bias, not honest artistic judgment: one Internet reviewer cited the movie's "stark black-and-white tones you'd get in a Bush State of the Union Speech" while the New York Times related the film to "reckless war-mongering" and "ill-fated imperial ventures."

Despite critical distaste for any project that glorifies our armed forces, the American people are finding-and loving-"The Great Raid" which, in its first weekend, earned the third-highest per screen box office take of all major releases.

I'm Michael Medved.

Beyond The News Commentaries, produced daily by Salem Communications, bring concise and penetrating insight to everything from the current headlines to challenges facing the church, from our culture wars to the Middle East conflict and from Hollywood to Washington, D.C. These daily features cover politics, culture, religion and science with perspective from the sharpest minds in the Christian and conservative world today: David Aikman, Terry Eastland, Hugh Hewitt, Michael Medved, Albert Mohler, Dennis Prager and Janet Parshall.