Quote Originally Posted by Smokey
Hadn't seen this movie for long time so picked it on DVD recently. This is a 1957 WWII british movie and it is story of Japanese prison camp where British and American POWs are kept and are ordered to build a bridge cross river Kwai.

What struck me about this movie is how the direcor David Lean try to strike a balance between reality of war (destruction and chaos) and human needs (reconstruction and order). And all the parties involve in the war (British, Japanese, American) are treated equal.

Ofcourse there are no happy ending or heros as all three lead charactors in this movie (including the Japanese camp commander) die at the end.

Very entertaining


The way Alec Guiness portrays a guy who becomes so lost that he becomes obsessed with finishing the bridge is amazing. It really is quite a sad film. I guess the only way to make sense of his current standing in life was to engineer the building of the bridge so far as to try to stop its destruction. They couldn't destroy what he worked so hard to accomplish. There was no more ally or enemy for Alec. It is a classic.