The Bridge on the River Kwai

Plot synopsis:
In the middle of World War II, two prisoners of war are burying a corpse in the graveyard of a Japanese POW camp in southern Burma. One, American Navy Commander Shears (William Holden), is revealed to routinely bribe guards to ensure he is put on the sick list, which allows him to avoid hard labour.A large contingent of British prisoners under the leadership of Colonel Nicholson (Alec Guinness) arrives, defiantly whistling the Colonel Bogey March as they march in. Because they were ordered by their superiors to surrender, Nicholson states that they should be obedient and cooperative prisoners. The Japanese camp commander, Colonel Saito (Sessue Hayakawa), addresses them, informing them of his rules. He insists that all prisoners, regardless of rank, will work on the construction of a bridge over the Kwai River as part of a railroad that will link all Burma.The next morning, when Saito orders everyone, including officers, to work, Nicholson commands his officers to stand fast. He points out that the Geneva Conventions state that captured officers are exempt from manual labour. Saito is infuriated and backhands Nicholson in the face, but the latter refuses to back down, even after Saito has a machine gun set up threatening to shoot all the officers. Saito is dissuaded from shooting by Major Clipton (James Donald), a British medical officer prisoner, citing an inquiry and scandal should Saito carry through with the murder of officers. Instead, the Japanese commander leaves Nicholson and his officers standing in the intense heat. As the day wears on, one of them collapses from heat stroke, but Nicholson and the rest are still standing defiantly at attention when the prisoners return from the day's work. After Colonel Nicholson is beaten in Saito's quarters, the British officers are sent into a punishment cage and Nicholson into his own box for solitary confinement.When Clipton requests to be allowed to check the officers, Saito agrees on the condition that Clipton persuade Nicholson to change his mind. Nicholson, however, refuses to budge, saying "if we give in now there'll be no end to it." In the meantime, construction of the railroad bridge falls far behind schedule, due in part to many "accidents" purposely arranged by the British prisoners.Saito has a deadline; if he should fail to meet it, it would bring him great shame and oblige him to commit seppuku (ritual suicide). Saito reluctantly releases Nicholson, telling him that he has proclaimed an "amnesty" to commemorate the anniversary of Japan's great victory in the Russo-Japanese War, using it as an excuse to exempt the officers from work. Upon their release, Nicholson and his officers proudly walk through a jubilant reception. Saito for his part breaks down in tears in private.Having recovered from his ordeal physically, but not mentally broken, Nicholson sets off on an inspection of the bridge and is shocked to find disorganization, shirking and outright sabotage on the construction site. He decides that he will build a better bridge than the Japanese soldiers. He orders Captain Reeves (Peter Williams) and Major Hughes (John Boxer) to come up with designs for a proper bridge, despite its military value to the Japanese. He wants to demonstrate to his captors what he considers superior British ingenuity and to also keep his men busy, which he feels would be better for morale than sitting around doing nothing in prison.Meanwhile, three men, one of them the American Shears, attempt to escape. Two are killed; Shears is shot, falls into the river and is swept downstream. After many days in the jungle, he stumbles into a Siamese village, whose residents help him recover and get back to safety. He's given food, water and an outrigger boat to make his way down the river. Shears runs out of water during the trip and is forced to drink the water from the river, which makes him ill. However, he makes it to the mouth of the river and is picked up by British forces and shipped to a British hospital in Colombo, Sri Lanka (at the time, Ceylon). While recuperating, he dallies with a lovely nurse (Ann Sears).Major Warden (Jack Hawkins), a member of the British Special Forces, asks to speak with him. He informs Shears that he is leading a small group of commandos on a mission to destroy the Kwai bridge. He asks Shears to volunteer, since he knows the area. Shears refuses, finally admitting that he is not Commander Shears at all, but a Navy enlisted man. Shears recounts that he and a Navy Commander survived the sinking of their ship, but the Commander was subsequently killed by a Japanese patrol. "Shears" switched dog tags with the dead officer, hoping to get preferential treatment in captivity. It didn't work, but then he had no choice but to continue the impersonation. Warden tells him that the military already knew about it. To avoid bad publicity, the U.S. Navy loans him to the British. Warden offers him a deal: in exchange for his services, he will be given the "simulated rank" of major on the mission and avoid being charged with impersonating an officer, an offense punishable by death. Thus, Shears reluctantly "volunteers" with the understanding that should he survive, he'll get to keep his officer status. They are to be joined by Lieutenant Joyce (Geoffrey Horne), a young eager officer with no combat experience who insists that he won't fold under pressure should he have to kill someone on the mission, and a fourth officer.Back in the camp, Nicholson explains to the Japanese through engineering principles that they've selected a poor site for the bridge. Finally convinced, the original bridge is abandoned and construction of a whole new bridge is commenced 400 yards downriver. Clipton watches in bewilderment as Nicholson maniacally drives his men to complete the project by the deadline. Ironically, he even volunteers his junior officers to assist with the physical labor, something he had refused to consider earlier in the standoff with Saito - provided that the Japanese officers are willing to pitch in as well.Meanwhile, the commandos parachute in. The fourth officer dies due to a bad landing. The rest make their way to the river, assisted by native Burmese women porters and their village chief, Yai (M.R.B. Chakrabandhu). The commandos come upon a Japanese patrol whom they try to kill without firing shots, but Joyce freezes when confronted by one in the jungle. Warden jumps in front of him and kills the Japanese soldier, but gets shot in the foot as a consequence. This slows him down, but Shears refuses to leave him behind and the trio make their way to the bridge with the Burmese helpers.As the prison camp celebrates the completion of the bridge on time with a party for all, Shears and Joyce wire explosives to it under cover of darkness. The next day, a Japanese train full of soldiers and important officials is scheduled to be the first to use the bridge; Warden wants to blow it up just as the train passes over, accomplishing two missions at once.As dawn approaches, the trio notice with horror that the river has receded and the wires and explosives that were hidden the night before are now exposed. Nicholson proudly walks up and down his bridge making a final inspection, and notices the wires. The train can be heard approaching. Nicholson and Saito frantically hurry down to the riverbank, pulling up and following the wire towards Joyce who is waiting by the detonator. When they get too close, Joyce breaks cover and stabs Saito to death. Nicholson yells for help and then tries to stop Joyce (who cannot bring himself to kill Nicholson) from getting to the detonator. A firefight erupts as Warden fires upon the approaching Japanese soldiers; Yai is killed in the gunfight. When Joyce is hit, Shears swims across the river to finish the job, but he too is shot just before he reaches Nicholson.Recognizing Shears, Nicholson suddenly comes to his senses and exclaims, "What have I done?" Warden desperately turns the mortar fire in their direction, killing Shears in the blast and mortally wounding Nicholson. The colonel stumbles over to the detonator plunger and falls on it with his dying breath, just in time to blow up the bridge and send the train hurtling into the river.Warden, feeling guilty for killing Shears and Nicholson in the face of shocked stares from the Burmese women, pleads, "I had to do it! They might have been taken alive! It was the only thing to do!" Meanwhile, Major Clipton, the British medical officer who has witnessed all the carnage unfold from his vantage point on the hill, shakes his head incredulously, "Madness! ... Madness!".

Tags: violence

Review:
After years of more intimate British films and just discovering the joys of location shooting with 1955's "Summertime", master director David Lean made his first actual widescreen epic with 1957's "The Bridge on the River Kwai", an acknowledged classic that deserves attention from a new generation of viewers and another visit from the rest of us who love perfectly executed films by an unparalleled craftsman.
While it has its share of action and suspense presented in exacting detail, the film is even more resonant as a psychological drama about the test of wills between mission-driven officers amid the perils of wartime survival.The plot takes place in 1943 when after surrendering in Singapore, Col. Nicholson marches his ragged British company into a Japanese prisoner work camp in the Burmese jungle (this is where the famous whistling of "Colonel Bogey March" is first heard).
Through Peter Taylor's thoughtful film editing, the movie breathlessly alternates between the parallel story lines of the bridge construction and the jungle commando mission until the exciting climax.Lean's accomplishments are many with this memorable film - the authenticity of the Burmese jungle locations (filmed in Sri Lanka), the seamless integration of the two story lines, the masterful handing of the final scenes, and in particular, the gradual metamorphosis of Nicholson from a by-the-book British officer to Saito's willing collaborator.
The madness is shown in Colonel Nicholson and Holden's character - here they are, two prisoners of war and they don't want to help each other out, instead they try to reach separate goals, and they are both willing to die for it.After you have watched this movie one is amazed by the performances made by Alec Guinness and William Holden and I must say that this is therefore one of the best War/Drama movies ever made My vote?
In `The Bridge On the River Kwai,' director David Lean takes you deep into the Burmese jungle to examine some of these deeper conflicts, and the effects of extraordinary circumstances on some ordinary men:  British Colonel Nicholson (Alec Guinness) is a man of rigid principles and ideals, to whom acquiescence in any quarter is not an option; Japanese Colonel Saito (Sessue Hayakawa) lives by an inflexible code of conduct and is adamant in his adherence to it, through which he maintains his dignity and honor; American Navy Commander Shears (William Holden) just wants to make it through the war alive and get back home.
Based loosely on a real-life incident, it tells the story of an imprisoned British officer (Alec Guinness) who loses sight of his mission when forced to build a bridge for the Japanese that will enable the enemy to carry supplies by train through the jungle during World War II.
Hayakawa was an incredibly powerful silent film actor – check him out in De Mille's The Cheat (1915) – and it's great to see him at the top of his game again here.Bombarded with awards, Bridge on the River Kwai is typical Oscar-winning fare, particularly for the conflicted political climate of the 1950s.
My father said they would have beaten him till he submitted, and if he happened to die...well, too bad.My father also pointed out that the notion that the Japanese engineers didn't possess the know-how to build a railway bridge to cross the Kwai River, and had to rely on British engineers is utter drivel.If you can bear to insult those who died on the Railway of Death by watching this film, do not take the film seriously.
While it is true that not every film about war needs to be "Shoah," "Schindler's List," or "The Killing Fields," and "Kwai" should be viewed on its own terms, as a film solely about the themes and characters it has chosen to depict; nevertheless, by so greatly downplaying the horrors of the actual historical situation it portrays, the film ultimately does a great disservice to the hundreds of thousands of people of several nationalities who suffered and died in the building of this monstrosity of a railroad.
Central plot is the troublesome relationship between the obstinate Colonel Nicholson (Alec Guinnes) and a cruel ruler , Colonel Saito (Sessue Hayakawa) and parallel efforts by escaped convict (William Holden) , officer (Jack Hawkins) and soldier (Geoffrey Horne) to destroy it.This excellent film , winner of numerous Oscars was magnificently directed by David Lean .
The story is very loosely based on the actual construction endeavor, called building the Kwai bridge, is herein incorporated to include the British prisoner of war camp, run by the Japanese during World War Two. A culturally traditional, hard-nose commandant, one Col. Saito (internationally acclaimed Japanese actor Sessue Hayakawa) has been given the task of constructing a railroad bridge over the river Kwai and is further ordered to have it completed by a given date.
Though Saito and Nicholson begin a battle of wits as to who is in command of the camp and its men, Shears is confronted by another British officer, Maj. Warden (Jack Hawkings) who asks him to return to the site of the bridge, to help him blow it up!
It's also about a British colonel's concern for the morale of his men and observation of the rules of war that it blinds him to the situation he's in.I like to compare The Bridge on the River Kwai with The Great Escape.
He has great affection for Guinness, but apparently he's the only one in the POW camp that sees the implication of what the British prisoners are being ordered to do by their commander and also who'll tell Guinness ever so gently.And Donald puts the final coda on The Bridge on the River Kwai with his words that end this great film achievement..
He delivered a film that is entertaining, but still was able to put important themes and messages in the movie such as what it takes to stay alive under times of duress (such as this war).Overall, The Bridge on the River Kwai is an incredibly powerful, expertly-made war film that shows how war can make people mad.
Before director David Lean (Oscar-winning) made "Lawrence of Arabia" in 1962, he created arguably the best film of the 1950s with "The Bridge on the River Kwai".
The film is an intense World War II epic about a group of British POWs (led by Oscar-winner Alec Guinness) who are forced by the Japanese Military (led by Oscar-nominee Sessue Hayakawa) to build a railway bridge to assist the Axis Powers.
Colonel Nicholson (Sir Alec Guiness in a very well deserved Oscar winning turn) and Colonel Saito (Sessue Hayakawa, who is actually a really great actor as well) both don't want to give in when Nicholson arrives at Saito's camp, and refuses adamantly to work alongside the fellow soldiers on the bridge- he sees it's against the Geneva conventions, and makes it a point of principle not to do it.
The bridge to Nicholson becomes something abstracted from what is really going on, and his original ideal of not giving in to being a prisoner becomes muddled, leading up to that incredibly tense, maddening climax where his final words punctuate it all: "what have I done?" But it's not all completely a serious endeavor, and what's so brilliant about Lean's approach to Boulle's material is that it's also a grand old entertainment, where the characters are rich and fully engrossing (albeit with Shears's/Holden given an obligatory "I'm the star" scene with a blond on a beach that seems from a different movie), and with a scope and direction that is just as ambitious in its own right as Lawrence of Arabia.
There's a sense that the boundaries of the typical POW/war movie, particularly from a British viewpoint, are stretched and expanded, questioning the means of the main characters while still showing them, in spurts, to have great merit.And if for nothing else, the acting's really what stands out, especially in the subtle notes and turns that seem over-the-top like with Hayakawa but are really nuanced too (he, especially, has a crux to deal with in suddenly losing his own sense of duty to country as a Brit takes over his job essentially).
Holden, by the way, is also quite good here, if sort of given the almost thankless role of the star who's typically cocky, and only when finally on the mission is there some opening up in relation to Hawkins's Warden; his speech to Warden is especially engrossing.Featuring the catchiest of all whistling in the movies, and a dynamite cast and graceful and distinctively superlative directorial vision, this is one of those rare films about war where character takes precedence over action (compared to the common war movies of the period, it's only sporadic and more suggestive in the violence), not to mention in big-budget splendor, and ends up truly memorable..
Although I heard several times the quality of The Bridge on the River Kwai, no review can prepare you for the sheer jaw-dropping, absolute perfection that this movie is.The movie, set in World War II, begins with a pan down to a batallion of British soldiers whistling a very recognizable tune, and marching in step into a Japanese POW camp in the jungles of modern-day Burma.
This is a film about a group of British prisoners of war that must build a bridge over the river Kwai.
In the heart of its hearts, TBONRK is an anti-war infotainment, as it is book-ended by British Major Clipton's "it's madness!" exclamation after its breakneck finale, madness is constituent of war, no one can say otherwise, but as in any superlative narrative-leaning cinematic conception, Lean cannily adopts an ambiguous route in lieu of stating the obvious (one must also lure those ticket-buyers who are steeped in nationalism, patriotism and heroism into the auditorium) and lets the rousing spirit prevail among those allied WWII POWs in Burma, under the high-handed command of Japanese Colonel Saito (an Oscar- nominated Hayakawa, giving a forcibly layered presence against the role's discriminated condition), to build a bridge over the River Kwai that will connect Bangkok and Rangoon.
As a rule, the mockery shouldn't be too offensive (it is not a vehement agitprop), Shears' penchant for hedonism and pragmatism alternates with Nicholson slippery to self-indulging delusion is the constantly battling tenors thrusting this film to the crunch, as Nicholson's "what have I done?" epiphany dished up with a ghost of vague contrition and followed by a chancy act of detonation, all we want to ask in the aftermath, is it really worth it?Apart from several peccadilloes, for instance, the technical incapacity of the Japanese party comes far too convenient (as it is not the case in reality) and the unpleasantness of war prisoners' state- of-play is categorically diluted, TBONRK is a sensational journey, peopled with vivid characters (its nearly male-exclusive cast, saving for some female exploitation footnotes, is all in full mettle), sublime landscape (including a striking worm's-eye view shot with collective wing-taking avifauna in the wake of gunshots) and well-imposed suspense, not to mention the food-for-thought deliberation it triggers in hindsight, one must see it to experience it!.
Bridge over the River Kwai (1957)A superbly well crafted World War II movie about British POWs working on a bridge in the Thai jungle for their Japanese captors.That may sound like a summary, but along those lines it's simply a really well made (and fictional) movie.
It concerns the struggle between a British officer, Colonel Nicholson (Alec Guinness), who is confined with his men in a Japanese POW camp, and the Japanese commander, Colonel Saito (Sessue Hayakawa), who has orders to finish a section of railroad using prisoner labor.The conditions in the camp are brutal.
A true test of the boundaries of the human spirit, Bridge on the River Kwai, directed by David Lean, took home Oscar's top prize in 1957.Brash, yet civil Colonel Nicholson (Alec Guinness) commander of a group of British soldiers captured as POW's by the Japanese military in the midst of WWII has a single vision in mind.
Gaining respect, Nicholson eventually becomes an integral part of the Japanese plan to build a bridge over the river Kwai veiled as a useful wartime measure that actually only serves as a monument to Japanese commanding officer Colonel Saito (Sessue Hayakawa).
The two plots work together to form one cohesive story of men afflicted with battle and the concessions that some won't even allow themselves to make in a time of war.This film shows Alec Guinness at his best, a raw look at a man in the heart of battle that refuses to leave his morals behind.
This Oscar winning film of 1957, "The Bridge on the River Kwai," is a little too heavy handed.One of the prisoners has it right, "won't building this bridge be seen as an act of treason?"Captured by the Japanese, Col. Nicholson and his men agree to build such a bridge.
The movie for a while offered a pretty good depiction of the harshness of Japanese prison camps, and was interesting in portraying Nicholson as ultimately besting Saito as he first gains the right (guaranteed by the Geneva Convention) for the officers not to be used as manual labourers and then gets the British officers in charge of building the bridge, thus ensuring that his men would be essentially under British command.
The acting of Alec Guinness is as good as it gets.William Holden simply mesmerizing, and when you have actors like Sessue Hayakawa, Jack Hawkins and James Donald at their top of the game you really can't ask for more.The script is intelligent and full of irony,especially in the intense finale,and still packs an emotional wallop.I've probably seen this movie several dozen times and it never fails to entertain even though I know almost every scene by heart..
The film is not about its individuals; it is an allegory about 3 groups, U.S. amateurs, exemplified by William Holden as Shears; the British Empire represented by Alec Guinness as Colonel Nicholson; and the Japanese Empire represented by Sessue Hayakawa as Colonel Saito.
As presented by director David Lean and four terrific lead actors, William Holden, Jack Hawkins, Sessue Hayakawa, and Alec Guinness, the film is not one you want to pass by.The focal point, especially in the movie's first half, is Guinness's Col. Nicholson, who leads his ragged troops to a Japanese prison camp after being ordered to surrender in Singapore.
"Bridge on the River Kwai" is many things, both good and less so: a powerful study of the way war drives men to madness; a false document that ignores some of the more unpleasant facts about the use of slave labor in the far east during WWII;  a showcase for at least two of the finest performances ever set to film (Alec Guinness and Sessue Hayakawa); a borderline racist tract that reduces whole cultures to caricature; a masterclass in cinematography and the use of ambient sound to convey mood, and for better or for worse, a blueprint for the modern tendency to emphasize dazzling style and epic scope in mainstream films.Using the construction of the infamous WWII Burma railway as a backdrop, "Kwai" mainly concerns the clash of wills between two stubborn failures: Col. Saito (Hawakawa), a Japanese prison camp commander who is trying to get a crude wooden bridge built, without notable success; and Col. Nicholson (Guinness), a British officer who, we learn, was supposedly ordered to turn his troops over to the Japanese and now must watch as they are gradually worked and starved to death.
What Nicholson and the Japanese don't know that the lone American war prisoner, Shears (William Holden), who is presumed dead after making a daring escape and is now guiding Warden (Jack Hawkins), a British major and his small commando unit whose objective is to the blow up the bridge.
The Bridge on the River Kwai opens in a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp in Burma in 1943, where a battle of wills rages between camp commander Colonel Saito (Sessue Hayakawa) and newly arrived British colonel Nicholson (Alec Guinness).
Filmed in Ceylon, Bridge on the River Kwai won seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director for the legendary British filmmaker David Lean, and Best Actor for Guinness.
Movie Review: "The Bridge On The River Kwai" (1957)This splendid novel-adaptation going-out from author Pierre Boulle (1912-1994), royally-received to be directed by exceptional film-maker David Lean (1908-1991), threading every single shot to the scene to sequence to the finished movie, putting a fictious as dramatized "World-War-II" South-East Asian conflict brought onto an Burma-Siam-Railway enterprise thread to fail by issuing the title-given bridge into an adventure story of British soldiers, led by enduring the utmost single-cell, a breeding hot-box-torture of the imaginable with regard to motion-history-making character of Colonel Nicholson, portrayed by Alec Guinness (1914-2000) to the famous scene of marching to prison under the "Colonel Bogey March" accompanied by a run-down, bootstrapped platoon of leather-shoe broken, nevertheless morally-stabil soldiers of the Royal British Army into a painstaking-design detailing prisoner-of-war (POW) encampment ruled by an ordeal-wishing, hard-to-get-by as constant-overlooking Japanese Colonel Saito, portrayed by Academy-Award-nominated, but then failing to present legendary producer Sam Spiegel (1901-1985) with a "clean sweep" of 8 Academy-Award nominations to 8 wibns at the Oscars in its 30th edition on March 26th 1958 due to arguably overacted scenes of defeat by actor Sessue Hayakawa (1889-1973), when lucky-punch ease-spreading Hollywood actor William Holden (1918-1981) hardened in movie-future-perfect-action-cinema promising trainings by suspense-debriefs delivering actor Jack Hawkins (1910-1973) as Major Warden, earns all favors of an awestruck smash-hit-supporting international audiences in holiday season of 1957/1958, paving a the way for a new kind of "deus ex machine" enduring secret agent ingnited in the year 1962 by Albert R.
From the way it was portrayed in the film, the British soldiers probably had a better time working on the bridge than fighting in the war and risking their lives.
David Lean directed this superb, Academy Award winning(best picture and director) film set in a Japanese WWII POW camp for British(and one American) soldiers.