It stars Glenn Close, Frances McDormand, Pauline Collins, Julianna Margulies, Jennifer Ehle, Cate Blanchett, and Elizabeth Spriggs.

Three women - tea planter's wife Adrienne Pargiter, model Rosemary Leighton-Jones and Australian nurse Susan Macarthy - swim their way to the shores of the island of Sumatra.

Some of the women choose to work in a brothel as voluntary prostitutes for Japanese officers for better treatment and decent food.

[3][4] Two years later, Adrienne and missionary Daisy "Margaret" Drummond decided to create a vocal orchestra to encourage the women, even though social and religious meetings had been prohibited by the Japanese officers.

According to the media information kit for the film, Martin Meader and David Giles researched the story since 1991 and met with survivors from the camp and choir.

Beresford and producer Sue Milliken then did their own research of the story for over more than two years, by reading books and unpublished diaries on the subject and by interviewing survivors.

[8] The film represents an alternative take on female imprisonment by the Japanese during World War II compared with BBC's dramatic offering from the early 1980s, Tenko.

[2] The role of Dr Verstak was originally offered to Anjelica Huston, who demanded more profit share than the filmmakers were willing to give, so Frances McDormand was cast instead.

The part of Margaret Drummond was to be played by Jean Simmons but she had to withdraw due to illness; the studio wanted Joan Plowright but she accepted another offer and Pauline Collins wound up being cast.

Singapore was the most popular living option with the Raffles Hotel, shops, and beautiful houses, which attracted many soldiers and their wives.

Europeans held the Japanese forces to an inferior level and put their trust in the British navy that guarded Singapore.

When the Japanese discovered them, the men were rounded up, and twenty-two of the nurses were forced back into the water where they were shot by the soldiers.