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The Bridge On The River Kwai | Year: 1957 Classification: Action/Adventure Directed: - David Lean Actors/Actresses: - William Holden - Alec Guinness Humanity during times of war. This is a must-see film for anyone who wants to even pretend to be 'up' on film history or attempt to pass pronouncements on current films. David Lean crafted one of history's best cinematic experiences with this 1957 film. Alec Guiness is great as the 'leader' of a group of British POW's under the supervision of a Japanese war camp superintendant. The prisoners have been forced to build a bridge over the river that bears the film's namesake. Less an action film than a drama, BRIDGE OVER THE RIVER KWAI gives us fascinating characters and shows us how they change over the course of the film. In the end we have learned much about each of them, and no one is quite what he seems to be at the beginning. While there is action, this is almost more of a character study in how humans bear up under extraordinary circumstances. Highly recommended. Span The Bridge 1957's Bridge On The River Kwai is a stirring war film that is based on a novel that itself was inspired by real life events. The movie stars William Holden and Alec Guinness as an American commander, Major Shears, and an English officer, Colonel Nicholson, respectively who are captives in a Japanese prisoner of war camp. The camp is run by the heartless and maniacal Colonel Saito (Sessue Hayakawa) and he has been put in charge of constructing a railroad bridge over the river that will be extremely important to the Japanese war effort. Saito and Nicholson are at constant odds over the British captives role in helping build the bridge. Nicholson does not want to aid his enemies in such an important task and Saito uses abusive and sadistic means of punishment to try and break Nicholson, but due to Nicholson's high honor, he never gives in. Eventually the men reach a compromise and Nicholson throws his men into task of building the bridge with a fervent and obsessive nature. A parallel story line concerns Major Shears who escapes from the camp, makes an inspired trek through the dangerous jungle and finds his way back to a base in the South Pacific. He provides the commanders with the information about the bridge, but his true motives are selfish as he wants to go home. He is forced into volunteering to guide a British troop back into the jungle to the prisoner's camp to destroy the bridge. Along on this mission is the leader Major Warden (Jack Hawkins) who is way too gung ho about it for Shears' liking. The eventual intertwining of the two stories reaches a brilliant and rousing climax. Director David Lean uses the jungle scenery of Sri Lanka to beautiful perfection to recreate the images of World War II. He never resorts to gratuitous violence or mayhem , but expertly crafts a story about the psychological effects war has on three men who at first seem quite different, but in the end seem very much the same. The film was a rousing success and dominated the 1957 Academy Awards winning a total seven including Best Picture, Mr. Lean's first Best Director Award and a truly deserving Best Actor Oscar for Sir Alec Guinness. Certainly one of the great cinematic war epics! David Lean's THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI is certainly one of the great war epics of the cinema. It might be an even better film than his equally celebrated LAWRENCE OF ARABIA. The latter film has, at the center of all the visual grandeur and epic scale, a character than is equally larger-than-life. The main characters of BRIDGE, on the other hand, are more humanly scaled, and I was grateful for that. Here is a cinematic epic that isn't just empty spectacle, but has intriguing characters and a literate thoughtfulness that is becoming a rarity in movies these days. In a lesser film, for instance, characters like Col. Saito (Sessue Hayakawa), Col. Nicholson (Alec Guinness, in a performance that won a deserved Academy Award---as did the movie itself), and Shears (William Holden) might have been reduced to one-dimensional stereotypes. Here, they have fascinating complexities that help drive the plot and serve its theme, which can pretty much be summed up by the final words of the movie: "Madness, madness!" The beauty here is that both Saito and Nicholson might be mad, but their madness isn't necessarily without justification. Of course, all this character development, which may or may not necessarily be interesting by itself, serves as a backdrop for what is essentially an adventure on a grand scale, and on that level it also works triumphantly, delivering beautiful widescreen cinematography, lush settings, and genuine suspense, particularly in its tense final moments. A glorious epic adventure that also never skimps on the human element, indeed makes it almost an integral part of the story---that is the magic of THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI. Highly recommended. Buy The Bridge On The River Kwai at Amazon.com Buy posters at Allposters.com Jamster - the latest ringtones for your phone!  Search with Walhello on the Internet on The Bridge On The River Kwai Search with the Priority Search Engine on The Bridge On The River Kwai This page in other languages: Suomeksi | Nederlands | Deutsch
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