The First Modern Film

Rating: 9/10 (25 October 2000)

Having been born in the 70s and watching films from that decade, I immediately think of that decade as the most original and daring for American films and filmmakers. But as I watched more films from the 60s and even late 50s I began to realize there were roots established by great directors like Kurosawa, Kubrick, and David Lean before Spielberg, Coppola, Lucas, and Scorsese. In this case, David Lean.
While Lawrence of Arabia may be considered his masterpiece, Bridge on the River Kwai stands alone as a great work of commentary on war, honor, and individualism. Except for Saving Private Ryan, no movie captures the psychological torture and futility of warfare like this film.
When I watched it, I got a sense that this was the first film in color. The look and sound of the movie is different from any other movie of its time and would later be more evident in films like North by Northwest and the James Bond series. But what really makes this film what it is, is the acting. Guinness, Hawkins, and the Japanese General Saito (I apologize for not remembering the actor's name right now) capture the uncompromising pride that honor and duty create in great soldiers and officers. From a military standpoint, Holden's character is really an undisciplined coward who'd rather go swimming with a beautiful nurse than plan out the destruction of the Kwai bridge with Hawkins. But isn't that kind of leisure and way of life that we go to war for to protect? Well, at least most wars.
That's what must've been so different and modern to audiences when this film first came on the scene. We root for Holden when he's really a liar and wants to avoid the war at all costs. Of course, that's best captured in his dialogue with Hawkins, suffering from a gunshot wound to his ankle, as they trek towards the bridge..."You and that Col. Nicholson, this war is just a game to you. How to die like soldier, how to die like a gentleman. When the only important thing is how to live like a human being!" That line there somes up Holden's character. But Bridge on the River Kwai isn't just ant-war film. It's much more than that. It's a great paradox of war and anti-war. We see it in Guinness's defiance of Saito and then his defense of his bridge before he realize what he's done. War films present an interesting genre of film in that it captures two contrasting ideologies simultaneously. This film is not only an entertaining one, but it should be an instructional film for the military before they decide to go to war.