Background | Opportunities | Casting

The central character of this film project is the Bataan Death March itself, an epic story that has never been told on film. The brutality, death and triumphs of this historical event are complex and contradictory, making for a rich and important film event.

In April of 1942, thousands of American and Filipino men and women were forced to march 65 miles from Mariveles to San Fernando under the armed surveillance of Japanese captors. The harsh conditions these prisoners of war endured were unrelenting. For many, this tragedy ended in death, imprisonment or great suffering, but for others it also led to a triumph of the human spirit in the face of overwhelming odds. This film project tells the story of all these people.

The structure of the project is Robert Altman-esque, interweaving the stories of many individuals, representing all those involved in the Bataan Death March. The script portrays these individuals richly and honestly and allows them human foibles, giving them a complexity beyond the types that they represent. From Japanese invaders to Filipino families to American men and women of every branch and rank of the armed services, this project captures all the major human elements of this monumental event.
Of particular note:

This film project captures the scope and panorama of the Bataan Death March.
The spectacle of the Death March is hard to imagine: Hundreds, even thousands of people marching in an endless column, plodding toward an uncertain fate. Individual characters are singled out by brutal Japanese soldiers and forced to perform unspeakable acts to save their lives. Contrarily, other captives are shown mercy by their captors, demonstrating the fragile balance between life and death.

On film, this thirty-minute sequence can be made as visually spectacular as the makeshift Civil War hospital in Gone With the Wind and as memorable and historically significant as the opening battle sequence of Saving Private Ryan.

No recent film has captured the horror of women as participants and victims of war as this project does. American and Filipino nurses, as well as many civilian women, were forced to undergo the same hardships the men faced during the Death March and their eventual three-year imprisonment at the Santa Tomas Interment Camp. From dyed-in-the-wool career female military commanders, to young American girls only seeking to help their country as military nurses, to prostitutes who came to the oldest profession either through force or choice, to Filipino matriarchs and their daughters, the stories of all these women unfold. The suffering these women endure allows them to grow to understand the differences between them, and gives the viewer an unprecedented appreciation for the toll war takes on women, as well as men.

No recent film has captured the importance of the American/Philippines relationship the way Promised Land does.
This relationship was forged long before this travesty of human suffering, but the Bataan Death March and it's aftermath have left an unbreakable bond between these two great nations. This is reflected in our film project: As the story unfolds, Filipino and American characters overcome hesitancies in their relationship with one another as they learn to trust each other to face down a common enemy. These characters wrestle with what it means to be “American” or “Filipino,” and those of mixed heritage have the challenge of coming to terms with what it means to be both.

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