Digressions...

Rating: Null/10 (1 March 1999)

This is a truly superb film. Whereas with pseudo-masterpieces like "Saving Private Ryan" and "Apocalypse Now." the message is so rhetorical and one-sided, the film achieves what art is supposed to: create a beautiful work that illuminates the truths that cannot merely be put into words, but must be experienced. The complexity of the characters is amazing. Alec Guinness realizes that this bridge is not going to win the war for the Axis. The bridge will be built either way. But here's a chance to create something good, here's a way to preserve human dignity in inhuman conditions. When he gives that speech ("Years from now, when people uses this bridge, they will know that it was built by soldiers, British soldiers, not slaves") O my God, I get goosebumps.