Bridge on River Kwai

The story centers on a Japanese prison camp isolated deep in the jungles of Southeast Asia, where the remorseless Colonel Saito (Sessue Hayakawa) has been charged with building a vitally important railway bridge. His clash of wills with a British prisoner, the charismatic Colonel Nicholson (Alec Guinness), escalates into a duel of honor, Nicholson defying his captor's demands to win concessions for his troops. How the two officers reach a compromise, and Nicholson becomes obsessed with building that bridge, provides the story's thematic spine; the parallel movement of a team of commandos dispatched to stop the project, led by a British major (Jack Hawkins) and guided by an American escapee (William Holden), supplies the story's suspense and forward momentum.

Shot on location in Sri Lanka, Kwai moves with a careful, even deliberate pace that survivors of latter-day, high-concept blockbusters might find lulling--Lean doesn't pander to attention deficit disorders with an explosion every 15 minutes. Instead, he guides us toward the intersection of the two plots, accruing remarkable character details through extraordinary performances. Hayakawa's cruel camp commander is gradually revealed as a victim of his own sense of honor, Holden's callow opportunist proves heroic without softening his nihilistic edge, and Guinness (who won a Best Actor Oscar, one of the production's seven wins) disappears as only he can into Nicholson's brittle, duty-driven, delusional psychosis. His final glimpse of self-knowledge remains an astonishing moment--story, character, and image coalescing with explosive impact.

Like Lean's Lawrence of Arabia, The Bridge on the River Kwai has been beautifully restored and released in a highly recommended widescreen version that preserves its original aspect ratio. --Sam Sutherland

Amazon.com
Director David Lean's masterful 1957 realization of Pierre Boulle's novel remains a benchmark for war films, and a deeply absorbing movie by any standard--like most of Lean's canon, The Bridge on the River Kwai achieves a richness in theme, narrative, and characterization that transcends genre.

The story centers on a Japanese prison camp isolated deep in the jungles of Southeast Asia, where the remorseless Colonel Saito (Sessue Hayakawa) has been charged with building a vitally important railway bridge. His clash of wills with a British prisoner, the charismatic Colonel Nicholson (Alec Guinness), escalates into a duel of honor, Nicholson defying his captor's demands to win concessions for his troops. How the two officers reach a compromise, and Nicholson becomes obsessed with building that bridge, provides the story's thematic spine; the parallel movement of a team of commandos dispatched to stop the project, led by a British major (Jack Hawkins) and guided by an American escapee (William Holden), supplies the story's suspense and forward momentum.

Shot on location in Sri Lanka, Kwai moves with a careful, even deliberate pace that survivors of latter-day, high-concept blockbusters might find lulling--Lean doesn't pander to attention deficit disorders with an explosion every 15 minutes. Instead, he guides us toward the intersection of the two plots, accruing remarkable character details through extraordinary performances. Hayakawa's cruel camp commander is gradually revealed as a victim of his own sense of honor, Holden's callow opportunist proves heroic without softening his nihilistic edge, and Guinness (who won a Best Actor Oscar, one of the production's seven wins) disappears as only he can into Nicholson's brittle, duty-driven, delusional psychosis. His final glimpse of self-knowledge remains an astonishing moment--story, character, and image coalescing with explosive impact.

Like Lean's Lawrence of Arabia, The Bridge on the River Kwai has been beautifully restored and released in a highly recommended widescreen version that preserves its original aspect ratio. --Sam Sutherland

Stills from The Bridge on the River Kwai (click for larger image)

Beyond The Bridge on the River Kwai

The David Lean Collection

WWII 60th Anniversary Collection

The True Story of the Bridge on the River Kwai (History Channel)

The remarkable novel by Pierre Boulle (also author of "Monkey Planet"...filmed as the memorable "Planet of the Apes") is masterfully brought to the screen by director David Lean, a true genius behind many historical epics.

Deep inside snake ridden Asian jungles, British and American prisoners of war toil under the sweltering tropical sun working on part of the infamous Burma railway that claimed thousands of Allied lives during WWII. Colonel Saito (talented Japanese actor Sessue Hayakawa) presides over his POW camp with an iron rule...driving his Japanese troops as hard as his malnourished prisoners. Enter the honorable and steadfast English POW, Colonel Nicholson (Alec Guiness in an Oscar winning performance) refusing to capitulate to Saito's demands that British officers perform manual labour alongside enlisted men. Each man's blind adherance to their own personal code of honor sees the two men plunge into a psychological war of will, bravado and courage...each determined not to waver from their personal beliefs.

As these two leaders clash with each other, American prisoner of war and resident camp gravedigger, Shears (William Holden) effects on escape from the brutal prison camp and after nearing death, he makes his way back to the Allied forces. Unfortunately for the timid Shears, he is coerced to guide a suicidal commando mission with Major Warden (Jack Hawkins) and Lieutenant Joyce (Geoffrey Horne) to return to the enemy infested jungles and blow up the railway bridge being built by Nicholson and the British prisoners of war.

Each differing path taken by Nicholson, Saito & Shears eventually intertwines and ultimately sees the three men confront their own inner fears and beliefs with tragic circumstances....

Seven Oscars bear testament to the wonderful attributes of this movie....including Best Picture and Best Actor...plus "Kwai" is regularly listed by critics as one of the most influential and highly regarded movies of the 20th century. For some additional in-depth behind the scenes reading on "The Bridge on the River Kwai" check out the insightful William Holden biograpy entitled "Golden Boy". Excellent reading !!

Quite simply an absolute "must have" addition to any DVD collection, "The Bridge on the River Kwai" remains a benchmark in inspirational movie making....I cannot recommend this film highly enough !!


It doesn't have to be big to be big   January 9, 2006
C. MCCALLISTER (The waters of the Great Lakes)
26 out of 28 found this review helpful

In World War Two, in Southeast Asia, Sessue Hayakawa portrays the commandant of a Japanese prison camp. Alec Guinness is the British Colonel of a group of soldiers who were captured and placed in that prison camp. Jack Hawkins is the leader of a British prisoner rescue mission, and William Holden is an American prisoner-of-war escapee. Hayakawa and Guinness collide as Hayakawa tries to "break" the morale of the prisoners and make them build a bridge that is important to the Japanese war effort. Guinness is first obsessed with proving that British troops cannot be broken, and then becomes obsessed with building that bridge, to prove what he and his men are capable of. He needs structure, order, and purpose so much, that he adopts Hayakawa's project as a mission for himself. Meanwhile, Hawkins and Holden are determined to stop or destroy the bridge, to hurt the Japanese.

Everyone is determined, at least, or obsessed, to accomplish purposes that converge, collide, and clash in the jungles of Southeast Asia. The acting is superb, and Alec Guinness deservedly won an Oscar for his portrayal of a man so in need of a purpose that he subverts his own beliefs and adopts the enemy's purpose. One of the scenes at the end, where Guinness's character suddenly realizes what he has done, is an amazing capturing of a man experiencing an epiphany, or emerging suddenly from a cloud of insanity.

Most of the time, the term "epic" needs to be connected to something on a very large scale. David Lean's "Lawrence of Arabia" encompasses much of, well, Arabia. "Dr. Zhivago" spans all of Russia during the Communist Revolution. "Gone With The Wind" covers much of the Confederate South during the Civil War. "Cleopatra" shows us ancient Egypt and Rome. These epics also span years of time in the stories they cover. "The Bridge on the River Kwai" does not cover nearly as much ground, geographically or chronologically. It is, in a sense, a small epic, and it is one that unfolds at its own pace, like "The Green Mile." "The Bridge on the River Kwai" is not big, and it is not fast. It is just quietly magnificent and stunningly powerful.


3 Fanatics + 2 Stories + 1 Ending = WWII Pacific POW epic   December 22, 2000
forrie (Nashua, NH United States)
18 out of 21 found this review helpful

Rated #11 on AFI's (American Film Institutes) 1998 top 100 movies of the last 100 years. This 1957 DVD Limited Edition (7 Oscar Winner including the BIG 3; Best Picture, Director - David Lean and Actor - Alec Guinness) World War II Japanese Prisoner Of War camp Classic remains one of the best psycological war movies made. (1953's "Stalag 17" a WWII German POW camp is the other. Ironically William Holden won a Best Actor Oscar).

The story is about 3 main fanatical characters; First is Colonel Saito (Sessue Hayakawa) the Japanese prison camp commander. Second is Colonel Nicolson (Alec Guinness) the English commander of the POW's (introduced by the now famous whistling tune, "Colonel Bogey's March"). Third is an English (demolition expert) Commando Major (Jack Hawkins) guided by an escape POW (William Holden) a reluctant, coerced sailor who's kismet is chosen for him. These 3 Soldiers and 1 Sailor have impossible missions to accomplish with all their fates focused at one common place at one specific time.

The 2 Stories are; One build "The Bridge on the River Kwai" in a very compressed time line. The Second is to destroy this same bridge. The stories have many twists and turns while the finale is surprisingly abrupt after a long complex journey.

This 1957 wide screen classic is beautifully restored and plays very well even without all the special digital effects of today. The realism is so vivid. Seen phyically on the POW's and soldiers bodies and faces. The Dolby 5.1 puts you in the thick of the jungle with an eerie feeling. A frighteningly close environment, dense, with very little visibility but the sound is 360 degrees. Only these sounds to cue your imagination and senses.

As always with a DVD 2 pack there is an abundance of background information about the movie. A nice collectors package.


Of War, Honor, and Disillusionment   February 11, 2000
Steve Rawlings (Denver, CO USA)
17 out of 19 found this review helpful

David Lean masterfully recreates Pierre Boulle's classic novelset in the Burmese jungle of World War II. The movie provides one ofthe great character studies ever captured on film. Two men, Colonel Saito played by Sessue Hayakawa, and Colonel Nicholson played by Alec Guinness, clash in an epic struggle of duty, honor, and will. Saito, a brutal, driven and reclusive prison camp commander stands in stark contrast to the equally driven but erudite and charismatic Nicholson. Upon arriving at the camp, Nicholson demands humane treatment for his troops in accordance with the conventions of war. Saito strikes the British Colonel and confines him in a small, sweltering tin box in an effort to break his will. As the days pass, the tension in the camp builds as the British soldiers, in forced labor, sabotage their Japanese captor's efforts to construct a railway bridge over the River Kwai. Saito, humbled and desperate, finally summons the emaciated Nicholson to meet in a gripping scene over dinner. The men ultimately reach a compromise to build the bridge, a compromise that sows the seeds for their eventual destruction. Hayakawa and Guinness, through sheer force of talent, depict the sense of honor and agony that consumes each of their characters.

The musical score, cinematography, and direction only accentuate the dramatic force of this movie. If you have never seen the film, I envy your first experience. If you have, then you know the satisfaction you derive from watching it again and again...