The greatest Anti-War, no, the greatest War movie ever, bar none!

Rating: 10/10 (31 March 1999)

Although I heard several times the quality of The Bridge on the River Kwai, no review can prepare you for the sheer jaw-dropping, absolute perfection that this movie is.
The movie, set in World War II, begins with a pan down to a batallion of British soldiers whistling a very recognizable tune, and marching in step into a Japanese POW camp in the jungles of modern-day Burma. The camp is run by Colonel Saito, played by Sessue Hayakowa, a part-time artist and wine connoisseur, and full-time prison warden and sadist. Colonel Saito tells his captives, members of the Royal Armed Corps of Engineers, that they must build a rail bridge over the Kwai River, or be executed "without honor". He also orders the officers of the corps, led by Colonel Nicholson, played by Sir Alec Guiness, to assist in the manual labor. Colonel Nicholson resists, citing a book of the rules of warfare written by the League of Nations forbiding captured officers to serve manual labor. In honorable protest, they stand at full attention in a hunger strike for a full 24 hours until Colonel Saito relents.
Colonel Nicholson goes to the construction site and realizes that the bridge should be built on more solid ground further downstream. He convinces Colonel Saito that they should build in another site. If his men are being forced to work, Nicholson argues, they will work to build the best possible construction. During the second construction, an American soldier Shears escapes the camp and ends up in Ceylon, a British Territory at the time. His British liberators use him and his knowledge of the project, and they assemble a small team to go back to the bridge to destroy it.
And therein lies the conflict. In most movies, there is a person or group that you can "root" for without conviction, like the Americans in Saving Private Ryan. If you root for Shears and his team, they are destroying something that their countrymen slaved hard labor to build. Rooting for Nicholson means you are upholding the Japanese in their goal of expansion. Even Saito, although very brutal, is honorable. He fights and does what he does for his country, not his own glory. Honor is usually a virtue, but here it is a fatal flaw. The pointlessness of war becomes completely apparent. Pardon the cliche, but there are no winners in this movie, or in war, just degrees of losing. Two points drive this home. The first is Shears's exclaimation "...you're all worrying about the proper way to die, when you should be worrying about the proper way to live!" The second is after the bridge is completed, Colonel Nicholson gives a final lookover and sets a placard on the bridge that states that although it is under a Japanese flag, it was build by the hard work of the Royal Armed Corps of Engineers. The final end sequence is totally gripping, and one that you will never forget.
This movie won 7 Oscars, and it deserved every one. Every element, the plot, acting, characterization, editing, is stunning. The cinematography of the jungle and the bridge itself is among the best ever, and is a real treat in widescreen. It's 2:45 running time will amaze you when you realize it after you are over, because it doesn't seem the least bit overlong. Even the visual effects do not seem dated, and it was made over 40 years ago. I don't give out 10's very often, but this movie more than earns it. There are absolutely no flaws in this movie, and is director David Lean's (Dr. Zhivago, Lawrence of Arabia) masterpiece and is truly timeless. A perfect movie that marries blockbuster entertainment with cinematic artistry, this should not be missed. And you'll be whistling that tune for days after seeing it.