bridgeonriverkwai

David Lean is one of the great directors of our time. His work on “Lawrence of Arabia” is the stuff
of cinema legend. His famous renditions of “Great Expectations” and “Oliver Twist” have left their
timeless impressions effortlessly. Throughout his career, he looked at famous events and human
situations in a unique and indescribable way. One of the best examples of this singular vision is the
seminal “Bridge On the River Kwai.”

At its basest level, “Bridge On the River Kwai” is a POW story of soldiers suffering horrible
conditions in a prison camp. Everyone who has seen movies has seen the prison camp story done
a thousand times, but in only a few different ways. There is much in “Kwai” that could have become
the focus of the story. The cruelty of the Japanese in World War II to POWs is infamous and the
British prisoners in “Kwai” certainly take their share. The building of the bridge is a major set piece
that could have pulled focus, but yet again, Lean found another road.

In the story, Alec Guinness leads a group of British prisoners in dignified surrender to a jungle
prison camp operated by the Japanese. There, the Japanese colonel lording over the camp begins
a demoralization campaign of epic proportions against the British officers and men. Meanwhile,
one American survivor in the camp, William Holden, escapes only to find himself conscripted to lead
a special unit back into the jungles to find the prison camp and blow up the bridge that the
Japanese are forcing the British prisoners to build.

Given all of that plot, what’s amazing is that Lean boils the story down to a battle of wills between
two men, Guinness and Sessue Hayakawa, who plays the cruel Colonel Saito. Guinness, as
Colonel Nicholson, does not want to give into Saito’s cruelty. He initially wins the power struggle
against the Japanese commander, but soon his need for control starts to manifest as a kind of
psychosis or compulsive disorder. His subordinates begin to wonder whether or not he realizes
that he’s skirting conspiring with the enemy as he becomes more obsessed with the bridge than
fighting the war.

Lean pulls off a masterstroke with “Kwai.” Like “Lawrence of Arabia,” it is an epic event pared down
to human faces. Lean is not afraid to linger with the camera. The viewer is allowed to see every
twitch on a face, every thought behind their eyes and watch emotions boil over.

War movie buffs need to understand that “Kwai” is a human drama more than an action-style war
film. This movie operates on a slow burn, carefully building characters and constructing
relationships, evolving complications and studying emotional dynamics to effectively create a
conclusion that remains one of the most suspenseful climaxes in movie history. The resolution is
worth the wait, and make no mistake, the wait is extremely interesting.

Guinness gives the performance of his career as the confused and dignified Nicholson, while
Hayakawa and Holden add the needed dramatic foundation to Guinness’ character arc. James
Donald is a noteworthy addition to this cast, providing the needed everyman character the
audience can travel with through this highly charged scenario. Donald is the voice of reason, a
voice tragically ignored.

I can’t emphasize enough how powerful this film is in scope and story. The momentary
sluggishness of the pacing keeps it just shy of being a perfect film, but what a small imperfection
this is given the dramatic and technical achievement Lean delivers.