Backbencher

The movie begins in the steamy jungles of the Malaya during WWII. There are quite a few British people living on the island when it is occupied by the Japanese. The Japanese take all the men to concentration camps and the women and children are forced to walk back and forth across the island because the Japanese don't know what to do with them. Originally the number of women and children is about 15 to 20, but soon they are down to five women and five children. A woman named Jean Paget becomes the leader of the group because she can speak a little Japanese. During their long walk they meet up with an Australian POW named Joe Harman. Joe does anything he can to help the women even when it's risky for him, including stealing five of a high ranking officers chickens. For stealing the chickens Joe gets his hands nailed to the side on a building and then he is beaten while the English women watch. All the women are horriffied, especially Jean because she and Joe had become friends. The women think Joe is dead and Joe, who isn't dead, thinks that Jean is married because she is caring for her dead friends baby. The women spend the next three years planting rice in a Malayan village and then the war is over and Jean goes back to England. In England Jean inherits a lot of money, and starts a friendship with her estates manager. Jean then decides that since she has money she should help out the Malayan village that was so kind to her. In Malaya she learns Joe isn't dead. Meanwhile in Australia Joe learns Jean isn't married. Jean flies to Australia and at about the same time Joe comes to England where he also becomes friends with Jean's estate manager. Eventually Jean and Joe both end up in Australia where they fall in love and get engaged. They still have a few problems though. Jean doesn't like the outback town or the homstead where Joe lives. This causes problems in their relationship, but eventually they work it out and live happily ever after.
This movie shows how very different the Australia and English people are. Joe sticks out like a sore thumb in England. One of my favorite scenes was when Joe and Jean's estate manager were in a restaurant. The fact that Joe wanted a beer to drink for lunch and not wine just floored the waiter.