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Rated: PG
Starring: William Holden, Alec Guinness, et al.
Director: David Lean Review
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 letterbox version that preserves its original widescreen
aspect ratio. --Sam Sutherland ------------
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...
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