i want to correct what i wrote in a former retrospective of david lean 's war picture .
i still think that it does n't deserve being the number 13 in the american film institute 's list of the 100 greatest american movies .
and i think that lumet 's " 12 angry men " , wilder 's " witness for the prosecution " and kubrick 's " paths of glory " would have been better choices for the best picture oscar in 1958 .
but i ca n't deny the importance of
" the bridge on the river kwai " - cinematically and in its contents .
the film is set in burma in 1943 .
a bataillon of british soldiers in japanese war captivity is forced by the japanese to build a strategically momentous railway bridge over the river kwai .
but the british commanding officer , colonel nicholson ( alec guinness ) , insists - corresponding to the geneva conventions - that his officers need n't work as simple workmen .
struggling toughly , col .
nicholson forces the japanese commandant , col .
saito ( sessue hayakawa ) , to give way in this respect .
afterwards col .
nicholson assiduously commits himself for the building of the bridge .
he considers it an opportunity to raise his men 's morale , and he wants to prove superior british capabilities to the japanese .
but the british high command sends a few soldiers who shall destroy the bridge , among them the american shears ( william holden ) - an escapee from the japanese prison camp - and the british major warden ( jack hawkins ) . . .
a flaw of the picture is the clich ?
d characterization of the japanese people .
they are presented as if they were intellectually inferior to the british - as if the japanese were incapable of building a bridge .
and the film does n't consistently question the military spirit as kubrick does in " paths of glory " .
lean seems rather fascinated by the military hierarchies .
this is also perceptible in the conversations between col . nicholson and col .
saito .
in this regard it is symptomatic that shears , who doubts the military logic , is a somehow unpleasant person in the film .
the audience is supposed to applaud
col .
nicholson 's perseverance concerning the question if his officers shall work on the bridge or not .
the spectators are supposed to neglect the risks col .
nicholson takes for his men .
( the plot by - passes these risks . )
that means , the picture is n't perfect .
but it has a lot of virtues as well .
it shows the " madness " of war and what war can produce in people 's minds .
it shows how col .
nicholson becomes possessed by the idea of being a hero and that others ( like shears ) get cynics .
and " the bridge on the river kwai " is an interesting study of characters with clashing interests .
these points and the sometimes ironic dialogue make this film an anti - war film ( despite the inconsistencies in the treatment of this theme ) .
david lean 's effective and atmospherically perfect direction creates a high suspense , especially in the dramatic ( though not wholly plausible ) showdown .
alec guinness does a magnificent job of bringing col . nicholson to life and
making him such an interesting character .
the other actors deliver very good performances as well .
jack hildyard 's fine color cinematography and the apt score are also helpful .
i like this extraordinary film despite its weaknesses .
( c ) karl rackwitz ( klein k ? ris , germany , 1999 )
Output: P