from British victory to Colbert's interview with Branson

Rating: 10/10 (4 August 2015)

David Lean's epic about the construction of a bridge by POWs won him his first Oscar. I understand that much of what the movie depicts is fictional, but it's among the most impressive fiction. The ambient heat in the Burmese setting is nothing compared to the tension between the POWs and the captors. As Sessue Hayakawa's colonel proclaims, the rules don't apply in wartime.
Alec Guinness - still several years away from playing a certain Jedi mentor - is particularly impressive as the British officer. His refusal to let the Japanese break him reminds me of Louis Zamperini's will to survive and maintain his dignity in the recent "Unbroken". This office is a true role model for the men under his command. Guinness won a well deserved Oscar for his performance.
All in all, a movie that everyone should see. I also recommend "The Railway Man", starring Colin Firth as a former POW who tries to find his former captor many years later.
As a final note, when Stephen Colbert was getting ready to interview Richard Branson on "The Colbert Report", he advertised it with this movie's climax. It was the greatest kind of madness.