ScoobyMint Disappointment for a huge fan!

Brainsbell The story-telling is good with flashbacks.The film is both funny and heartbreaking. You smile in a scene and get a soulcrushing revelation in the next.

Ogosmith Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

filippaberry84 I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Richie-67-485852 Both are introduced into this movie but not like you would expect nor will you ever forget either. Most excellent entertaining movie showcasing the depth of human nature under harsh conditions and how each person handles all the different circumstances according to their skills, abilities and beliefs. Even the ones that don't do well survive in this classic prisoner of war drama but use resentment and fear to do so. However, don't be surprised because one must find what works to stay alive and last. This is the story of not only one such man who just comes alive and excels under all these challenging conditions but also those in his little world both on his team or just able to observe from a distance. Many things stand-out that make this a movie that one must see over and over again not just for the study in human nature under adverse conditions but for the memorable scenes expertly acted out. Notice how there is order in this camp but there is also real life outside of military discipline where rank doesn't get you much in a world where food, safety and perks abound. Why? You cannot command welfare or well-being but at best hope for it and take advantage when it comes but with a catch: How far are you willing to go? One learns he has to live with himself in making that decision. Its personal for everyone and some handle it better than others. Human suffering is never pretty but this movie manages to use it to teach valuable lessons and at the same time never forget what man can do to man especially in war. Realism, good story line and directing brings it all home with credible acting sealing the deal. Look forward to this gem and I highly recommend eating during this movie as there are several scenes involving food. One is appetizing while three others keep you alive and still another surprises but satisfies. Have finger foods, chips, popcorn and definitely a tasty drink with your favorite candy too. Great flick for sunflower or pumpkin seeds BTW...health care is covered in this movie as in can you afford it and if not? The ending satisfies and the reality of it hits solidly home. I read the book which is excellent and have seen this movie many times and own the DVD too. Must for any library of the serious viewer

Leofwine_draca KING RAT is an interesting character study that takes place in a Japanese prisoner of war camp. It's an adaptation of a novel by James Clavell that was based on his own war-time experiences. This is a lengthy black-and-white ensemble production that eschews the usual POW film plottings - there are no escape attempts, for example - to instead explore the mental health and well being of those inside the camp.George Segal's main character is an amoral wheeler-dealer, one of those guys who always makes the best out of a situation. James Fox is the idealistic upper-class type who comes to befriend him. Tom Courtenay has a good role as the by-the-book youth who becomes the story's main antagonist, while John Mills is very good in just a handful of scenes. The main problem with this film is the overlong running time that makes it drag (particularly during the first hour), but it does build to a powerful and unusual climax.

Naught Moses Lawrence Kohlberg wrote a controversial and much discussed paper about the stages of moral development at the U. of Chicago in 1958. Kohlberg asserted that moral development ranged from conditioned obedience and fear of punishment through self-interest, conformity, authority for the sake of maintenance of social order, and consciously made social contracts, to awareness of universal ethical principles. While still subject to argument, a number of psychometric tests have been adapted or specifically developed to test the accuracy of Kohlberg's notions. To this day, his ideas strongly influence measures of anti-social, sociopathic and sadomasochistic thought and behavior in criminal justice and other endeavors. Take a look at it on, say, Wikipedia, and then watch "King Rat" closely to see where the various major characters fall on the scale. Further, one can utilize "KR" as an illustration of socialized, acculturated, "normalized," and belief-bound -- vs. chillingly empirical, anti-socialized, anti-ac-CULT-urated, ab-normalized, observation-driven -- appraisal of events. The former may well be "just" and "fair," but relatively ineffective when it comes down to survival... and the latter may be "ruthless" and "vicious," but relatively effective therefor. "KR" demands one climb out of the box of "delivered truth" based on authoritarian in-struct-ion to "get it." In modern neuropsychological parlance (see, for example, Iain McGilchrist), it requires that one pretty much abandon the rules and regulations of the brain's verbal- symbolic-skewed left hemisphere for the open-mindedness of spatial- sensory-skewed right. Even though the 1950s had been a watershed decade for existentialism and the 1960s a decade of wider distribution therefor, "King Rat" was =far= ahead of its time in the English-speaking world. But if one could have seen it in the Russian-speaking one (not possible during the Cold War, after all), anyone who'd read Dostoyevsky and Chekov -- let alone lived in a gulag -- would have sussed it immediately. RG, Psy.D., "The 12 StEPs of Experiential Processing," online.

bpbfde4-1 Pretty much everything has been said in the other reviews. The only thing I can add is that the book SHOULD be read before watching the movie. I just watched the film on "AntennaTV". It ran for 3 hours(w/lots of commercials) and while it was a good adaptation of the book it didn't come close to the character/plot development needed to really appreciate the film. What struck me was the realization that if I hadn't read the book I would have been relatively clueless to a lot of what, and why, things were happening in the film. I don't fault the screenplay or the director. There was just so much going on that it would've been impossible to cover it in 130(?) minutes.It's been 25 years since I first read the book and, since then, I've probably read it more times than any other book I own.In short, read the book and then watch the film. You'll get sooooo much more out of it.