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Once upon a time, there were films called “larger than life”. They appeared in the 1950s, in order to help Hollywood survive the challenge issued by the new medium of television. Such films featured things the small screen could not: CinemaScope, bright colours, exotic locations, truly epic stories and spectacles with thousands of extras. Some of those films slid into obscurity; others won their Academy Awards and became the most precious part of cinema legacy, often causing film buffs to lament the passing of the good old times.

The undisputed master of that genre was David Lean, one of the greatest British directors who ever lived. In the latter part of his career he made five such great films, and two of them are regarded as masterpieces. The first one was The Bridge on the River Kwai, a 1957 war spectacle that won seven Academy Awards and later came to be praised as one of the best anti-war films ever made.

The plot of this film is based on the novel by French author Pierre Boulle (whose work would later inspire another great film, The Planet of the Apes). However, the novel, as well as the film, found its basis in one often forgotten but ghastly episode of the Second World War. In 1942, following the attack on Pearl Harbor, Japanese forces overcame weak British defences and conquered Malaya and Burma. However, the Jewel of the Crown – India – remained out of their reach, not because of weak British defence, but because of their own logistical problems. For the supply of their troops on the Burmese front, the Japanese could not rely on their navy, already overstretched with surprisingly successful Pacific conquests. So, a land supply route had to be made and the Japanese began to build a railway that would connect Japanese-controlled Burma with their supply bases in Thailand. Such a task was hard because the railroad had to be built through hundreds of kilometres of thick, wild jungle. The least of all problems was the workforce – the Japanese used tens of thousands of captured Allied soldiers and hundreds of thousands of natives as slave labour. After sixteen months of hard labour the railway was finished, but the death toll among the captives, exhausted by heat, disease and Japanese mistreatment, was horrible, and the railway deserved its nickname: the Railway of Death.

The film begins in February 1943, in Prison Camp No. 16, commanded by Colonel Saito (played by Sessue Hayakawa) who is faced with a problem. He is ordered to finish the bridge over the River Kwai before 12 May, but the task is almost impossible, since almost all of the camp prisoners have succumbed to the harsh conditions of prison life. Their replacement comes in the form of a battalion of British prisoners, commanded by Colonel Nicholson (played by Alec Guinness). Nicholson is obsessed with order and military discipline and wants to maintain it, even as a prisoner; so he refuses Saito’s orders to take part in manual labour, which is, according to the Geneva Convention, forbidden for officers. Of course, that leads to a dramatic confrontation and Saito wants to make Nicholson change his mind through torture. While those two colonels are obsessed with the desire to save face, US Navy Commander Shears (played by William Holden) is more concerned with his own survival; knowing that his chances in the jungle are better than in the camp, he escapes. A few weeks later, Saito, pressed by the mounting deadline and frustrated with the lack of progress, concedes defeat and allows Nicholson and other officers to be spared from manual labour. Instead of gloating, Nicholson decides to actually cooperate with Saito and help him build the bridge; in his mind, the successful completion of such a task would regain the dignity, morale and discipline of his men. In the meantime, Shears has miraculously survived the jungle and reached the safety of British-controlled Ceylon. There he is shown to be an impostor, an enlisted man who has taken the false identity of an officer in order to get privileges. In order to evade court martial, he accepts a deal that brings him back to the last place he would want to go – to the bridge on the River Kwai, this time as a member of a commando team, led by Major Warden (played by Jack Hawkins), determined to blow up the still-unfinished bridge.

Usually, when we are talking about anti-war films, the wars depicted in them are those that have gained a reputation of senseless slaughter, like the First World War and Vietnam. The Second World War, as a much clearer example of Good vs. Evil, seemed like an unsuitable example for an anti-war message. But not for David Lean, a dedicated pacifist, who probably had a rough time reconciling his own beliefs with the ugly reality of Britain being threatened by Hitler. That author was probably the most suitable for this film that very explicitly equates war with madness. Lean wasn’t the only one who had troubles because of his beliefs – screenwriters Carl Foreman and Michael Wilson were branded as Communists and blacklisted by Hollywood studios, which erased their names from the film’s credits (restored many years later, together with the “Oscars”, originally given only to the non-English-speaking novel author Boulle).

War as madness in this film is shown through four memorable characters, each of them displaying different levels of sanity, as well as different ways such madness manifests itself. The main and most complex and tragic character is, of course, Colonel Nicholson. This role by Alec Guinness, who would get an “Oscar” for it, is one of the best in the history of cinema and much better than Guinness’ later and wider-known incarnation as Obi‑Wan Kenobi in Star Wars. Here he portrays a heroic, but deeply flawed individual, obsessed with the idea of maintaining order and civilisation even in situations when such things clearly don’t exist anymore. One illusion follows another and he slowly and gradually slides into madness, often deceiving the audience. In the beginning, his stubborn refusal to bend to his captor could be viewed as an act of heroic defiance; but later, following the same logic, he becomes a traitor instead of a hero.

His prime antagonist is portrayed by the excellent and often neglected Asian actor Sessue Hayakawa. Colonel Saito on the surface looks like nothing more than a generic sadistic villain, but later he is revealed to be as psychologically troubled as his prisoners are troubled physically. His previous failure as an artist, and failure as an engineer, could only lead to his ultimate failure as a soldier, already hinted by the post of prison camp commander – the most humiliating task for a military built on the ancient tradition of no surrender. A desperate desire to save face makes him as stubborn and mad as Nicholson, and that madness would express itself with suicidal intentions that are unimpeded even by the apparent success of his project.

Another military madman in this Siamese jungle comes in the form of Major Warden, played by the excellent Jack Hawkins. While Saito and Nicholson became obsessed with duty and order, Warden sees war as an adventure, an opportunity to have some fun by blowing up bridges and buildings. He couldn’t care less about discipline and the formal rules of war, but, unfortunately, he doesn’t care about the fatal consequences his adventurous approach to war could have on the men under his command.

Voices of reason seem few in this lunatic asylum. One of them is Shears, a character often cited by some critics as unbelievable and unnecessary, written only to bring American crowds to the theatres. William Holden plays him as a cynic, a flawed man, but someone most of us could relate to. His course of actions might seem cowardly or unethical (enjoying undeserved privileges of rank or frolicking with beautiful nurses while his fellow men bleed on the battlegrounds), but they are quite understandable in the context of his experiences. The opposite thing – lack of experience – is something that bothers Lieutenant Joyce, played by Geoffrey Horne, who suffers from a fatal inability to kill another human being, even when such a course of action is mandated by circumstances. But only the character of Major Clipton, played by James Donald, happens to be the true voice of reason and his final comments at the end are the words that belong to the author of this film.

Strong acting talent in this film was accompanied by superb directing. David Lean spent a great deal of time making this film and it shows on the screen. The shots are long, but they allow the viewers to concentrate on the characters and their subtle gestures, as well as many interesting details. Photography by Jack Hildyard was superb, with the great use of Sri Lankan jungle locations that provide a claustrophobic and depressive atmosphere for the film. The musical score by Malcolm Arnold is also very suggestive, but only the “Colonel Bogey March” remains in memory as one of the most catchy and popular tunes in the history of film music.

The Bridge on the River Kwai is an almost perfect film, brilliantly written, acted and directed and one of the rare examples of “Oscar” winners that have actually passed the test of time. Of course, there are some flaws, but they are minor. Some may argue that the life of Allied soldiers in Japanese POW camps, although still very grim according to this film, was actually much harder in real life. Conflict between Saito and Nicholson was simply unimaginable under such brutal conditions; this film was often criticised by surviving POWs for portraying Japanese guards as kinder and gentler than they actually were. Also, the final showdown, although powerful, seems a little bit melodramatic.

However, despite those flaws, The Bridge on the River Kwai still remains an undisputed masterpiece, an excellent example of one great film-making talent and thought‑provoking cinema. All those with the intention to educate themselves about war through movies must see this one.

RATING: 9/10 (++++)

(Note: The text in its original form was posted in Usenet newsgroup rec.arts.movies.reviews on December 1st 1999)

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Movie URL: https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/826-the-bridge-on-the-river-kwai
Critic: AAA