Historical Accuracy is Not Relevant Here

Rating: 10/10 (9 June 2017)

I write this review as a response to another review here at IMDb.com (the first review listed, as of 6/9/2017, titled "Good film, but a travesty of history," written by someone with the screen name "gcaplan").
The review by gcaplan states as follows: "I am normally an admirer of David Lean. But it is difficult to understand why he chose to base this film on a real event at the River Kwai, as it grossly misrepresents the real 'Colonel Nicholson' and caused considerable distress to both him and the River Kwai veterans. The Colonel Nicholson character is based on the allied camp commander, Lieutenant Colonel Philip Toosey, who was a remarkable officer by any standards."
I have the greatest respect for the sacrifices of the warriors of World War II and for historical facts. I would urge upon reviewer "gcaplan" the following thought: making a great Hollywood film that will sell tickets to millions of people is not necessarily connected to historical accuracy. David Lean did not consider himself bound by historical fact as he made this film. He considered himself bound by the need to deliver a great and inspiring movie-going experience to movie-goers of the world. In my opinion, this is the only criteria a filmmaker should adhere to, unless he/she is making a documentary film.
History, generally speaking, is too squishy, too-spread-out, too ambiguous, too complex, too lacking in the elements of drama to produce a good two- or three-hour film or script or play unless you play around with the facts, compress stuff, tweak people's characters so as to make them more understandable and/or more dramatic. Shakespeare knew this. Robert Bolt ("A Man For All Seasons") knew this. David Lean knew this. If you're spending a fortune making a two- or three-hour production that intends to appeal to lots of people, and you're dealing with history, you've got to simplify in spots, enhance in spots, move things around. Above all you've got to create drama and conflict that's readily graspable. Otherwise you're just doing a vanity project. If you've got millions of dollars to spend on a vanity project, fine, do what you want, but if you want a return on your investment, as most filmmakers do, you'd better create a great story with vivid and dramatic conflict.
Lean's creation of the Col. Nicholson of "The Bridge on the River Kwai" (with a lot of help from Alec Guinness, needless to say) was a key step toward generating dramatic conflict in the script and thus creating a great film. Minus this depiction of Nicholson we have a lesser film - in fact, we probably have a nothing film that few people pay money to see.
I am skeptical of the assertion by reviewer "gcaplan" that the film has caused "considerable distress" to the brave and strong survivors of this prison hell. I'm inclined to think they're tougher than that. I would like to see substantive evidence for this assertion in the form of a specific citation, since this assertion is the crux of gcaplan's review. I suggest the possibility that the film has caused SOME distress to SOME of the survivors of this hell, and has been loved by others, who recognize that, minus Lean's monumental effort to create dramatic tension, virtually no one would have ever heard of the movie, nor of the bridge, nor of them - surely no one in the younger generation. As it is, everyone who loves great movies has heard of these men and regards them as great.
"The Bridge on the River Kwai" is a true depiction of what might happen to men at war. It is not true in terms of actual facts and makes no pretensions in that regard. Down here in the real world, millions of people seek entertainment. They got it from this film. It's possibly the best World War II film; it has nothing to do with the actual facts; and I say to David Lean, WTG. Well done, to have the guts and talent to take a less-than-cinematic story, tweak it, massage it, re-write it and make a great cinematic story.
By the way, the facts of the great bridge can be found by anyone who cares to do a bit of looking. I urge them to do so.