The film chronicles the actions of Adnan bin Saidi who had been involved as a Lieutenant of the Malay Regiment fending against the invasion of the Japanese army during the Second World War.

This contrasts to the official version as recorded by Japanese Imperial Army, which indicated that he was executed first, then hung upside down from a cherry tree.

British accounts have confirmed that his corpse was found hung upside down after the surrender and this has been repeated in a number of authoritative texts on the Malayan campaign.

Leftenan Adnan was released on 31 August 2000 in conjunction with 43rd anniversary of Malaysia's independence and marketed as the "Ultimate Malay Film Epic".

[a][4][5] Meor Shariman and Joe Lee, both writes for The Malay Mail dubbed the film as "the Malaysian version of Saving Private Ryan".