The movie, The Bridge on the River Kwai, won Alec Guinness an academy award. He was known for various roles, in british films before that. He played in this film, Colonel Nicholson. He is a British officer in a Japanese P.O.W. Camp. The colonel, despite the harsh conditions, never loses his spirit. He is never broken, despite being imprisoned by Colonel Saito, (Sessue Hayakawa), in a small box. This is because Guinness’s character refuses to do manual labor, as do his other officers. No matter what, Colonel Saito, cannot break the spirit of the British officers. He must work with them, to get a railway bridge built for Japanese supply trains. Colonel Nicholson believes cooperating with his captors, will keep the British troops motivated.
William Holden, also an academy award winner, plays Shears. He is an officer, who has bitterness and cynicism. He is the opposite of Colonel Nicholson. He even lets his feelings about the bridge known to Nicholson. He is not happy being a prisoner, and escapes during the night. He ends up in a hospital, after being rescued by natives. Shears is living the good life. He even has a romance with a nurse, (Ann Sears).
This happy life ends when his identity is learned by a British officer, Major Warden, (Jack Hawkins). He tells Shears he is going back to the prison, after commando training. The reason that Shears, Warden and two others are going, is to blow up the bridge. Shears is needed because he knows the layout of the prison. They arrive and plant the explosives. On an inspection, with Colonel Saito, Nicholson discovers the wires at low tide. The commandos must act swiftly, because in the distance, the supply train can be heard. The film’s climax is worth watching the film. Colonel Nicholson, realizes that his efforts to build morale, by building the enemy’s bridge, were morally wrong. He sets off the explosives himself, with Major Warden, watching in the distance.
A film like The Bridge on the River Kwai, requires time and effort. This needs to come from the actors and the director. David Lean has received fine performances from his leads. Sessue Hayakawa is very effective as the brutal Colonel Saito. His tyranny and his punishments, don’t work against the spirit of the officers. Hayakawa is very good in the scene when his character has been broken by Colonel Nicholson. It also works with the difference in characters of Shears and Colonel Nicholson. Nicholson wants to make the best of his captivity. Shears, decides he’d rather risk death, than imprisonment. The script was well written, by the novel’s author, Pierre Boulle, who won an academy award for it. Carl Foreman and Michael Wilson also assisted in the screenplay. The main theme in this film, is how people react to the most adverse conditions. It shows the two main characters reacting differently. Nicholson believes adversity can be overcome. He uses his leadership skills to make the best of a horrible situation. Shears is only concerned with bettering his circumstances, by escaping. David Lean, has, with The Bridge Over the River Kwai, become master of the epic film. It earned him an Oscar. He made two more, in an eight year period, Lawrence of Arabia and Doctor Zhivago. He won an academy award for Lawrence of Arabia, as well. It is rare that films of this scale succeed; mainly because of the money involved. This film proved that high production costs, can be recovered at the box office.
This film does cover a horrible subject. That is, prisoners of war working under horrible conditions. This is not a fiction but a hard fact. The Japanese officer, Saito, is fictional, but the horrors that happened, to the prisoners of the Japanese were real. It isn’t easy to make a film dealing mainly with man’s inhumanity to man, but David Lean has.