The stiff upper lip can be your salvation or ruin

Rating: 8/10 (24 March 2007)

The jolly British soldiers march into a Japanese prisoner of war camp whistling the WWII song "Hitler's only got one ball." Colonel Nicholson (Alec Guinness) expects his officers to be treated with the respect that officers are due (see "La Grande Illusion"). The Japanese commander has other ideas. He has a bridge to finish and needs every man, including officers to work hard labor. The colonel flatly refuses and ends up spending days in the oven, a hot (they are in Thailand) tin box with no food and little water. After interminable waiting, the Japanese commander softens and lets him out. Well, the men are in disarray without a commanding officer and they're building a downright shoddy bridge. Col. Nicholson decides that if they are going to do it, they are going to build the best bridge that has ever been seen. He organizes the men and they set to work.
During the colonels oven time, Commander Shears, (William Holden) an American, escapes from the same camp and turns up in Ceylon, where he is recruited for a commando mission to blow up the bridge. They sneak in and get ready to blow up what has motivated the British soldiers for months. The strength of this movie is the attention to the varying, and evolving views on war and duty shown by the major characters. Shears hates war and regulation. Nicholson loves the military and duty is everything. The British doctor sums his (and the director's views) at the end with "Madness, Madness." This movie is like straw mushroom, chicken and coconut milk soup. The mushrooms and the chicken provide the substance of the meal, quite different from each other, but both are hearty. The coconut milk broth is flavored with lemon grass for a little sourness, fish sauce which stinks when in the bottle, but adds subtleness to the food and chilies for a little spice and to wake up the mouth (and sinuses). It is exotic, but earthy and natural. Nothing fancy going on here, just a good meld of different flavors which enhance each other. 7.5/10 http://blog.myspace.com/locoformovies