The Bridge on the River Kwai




How to die like a gentleman... how to die by the rules... when the only important thing is how to live like a human being.

Before Lawrence of Arabia, David Lean hit pay dirt with The Bridge on the River Kwai that was a commercial hit and a good movie. It went on to win seven academy awards.

Col. Nicholson (Alec Guinness) is a WWII British POW in a Japanese work camp. The colonel there (Sessue Hayakawa) orders the men to build a bridge across ... you guessed it, the river Kwai. But the two colonels butt heads as both are tremendously stubborn. In the end, Nicholson gets his way and begins to build the bridge with a resolve to make it the best he can. He does this even though it will aid the enemy. Meanwhile, another POW, Shears (William Holden), escapes from the camp and is recruited to help a commando operation blow the bridge.

They don't make epics like they use to, and David Lean is standing proof of that. The subject of this movie is the effects of war, but not war itself. I wouldn't really characterize this as a war movie at all. Instead, nearly the entire two and a half hours are devoted to the madness that war instigates. More specifically it's a deliberation on obsession. It can plainly seen in Colonel Nicholson, over his incessancy with the bridge. And we get a good profile of Major Warden (Jack Hawkins) from one of Holden's speeches.

Nicholson is sold on the idea that he is building this bridge to show the Japanese how good ol' British efficiency works. At times, his reasons do make an amount of sense. Building this bridge will/does demoralize the Japanese, and it may be used for some good after the war. But in reality he is doing it for himself, to make a monument he can be remembered by. In that sense it isn't all that mad of a motive. Ironically, the "bad guy," is doing it for his country (and yes, to save himself the shame and death).

This movie would be just a minor footnote in history if not for the acting. The leads pull off convincing and at times great performances. The war of wills between the two colonels, Shears' general disgust at war and petty heroics, and so on and so forth. Of personal note, Hayakawa does a remarkable job, as he is shamed and disgraced by this madly stubborn British officer. One of the best moments in the movie is when he comments on the beautiful sunset and all Nicholson can do is talk about his stupid bridge.

Lean does excellent work here with the camera and elements. My only complaint about the movie is that it is bloody long and sometimes the pacing is slow. That's not to say it isn't suspenseful or that the action doesn't deliver. But though thoroughly entertaining, it lacks the action or romance that my generation has come to expect. But I'd take the consideration, thought and characters this movie offers any day.

A classic epic that is less about war than people at war. Certainly it's a movie everyone should see at least once. Oh yeah, I almost forgot to mention the song this movie made famous.



-The Gnome