The Bridge on the River Kwai – An Appreciation

September 11th, 2010 | POSTED BY Brandi Sperry

I’ve said several times here on the MacGuffin that I don’t do war movies. Reader, I am an exaggerator. Though there are some things I cannot handle—here I confess that I have never seen and probably will never see Saving Private Ryan—there are several “classic” war movies that I love. Chief among these is David Lean’s 1957 Best Picture winner The Bridge on the River Kwai, an impeccably constructed exploration of what it means to act with honor under the rules of war, and whether the entire concept of that is unattainable and absurd. The film is being shown at SIFF Cinema in a new digital 4K restoration through tomorrow night.

We begin with the arrival of at least a hundred British soldiers to a Japanese POW camp in World War II. The straggling survivors from earlier arrivals look on, including the always wonderful William Holden as American Shears, who’s just finished digging yet another grave. The conduct of the British soldiers is a bit baffling; they march in time and whistle the “Colonel Bogey March.” Then we meet their commander, Colonel Nicholson (Alec Guiness, who won Best Actor for this performance). There are two things Nicholson cares about: following the rules of war, and keeping a stiff upper lip to show the dignity and pride of a British soldier. He is there because his superiors ordered him to surrender.

Nicholson immediately clashes with the Japanese commander, Colonel Saito (Sessue Hayakawa, a Best Supporting Actor nominee). Saito insists that the British officers will labor alongside enlisted men, in the construction of a bridge. Because this breaks the rules of the Geneva Convention, Nicholson refuses to give the order. One of the great power struggles of cinema commences. Nicholson risks his own life, and that of his eight officers, to defend a principle. Saito wants only to maintain absolute power and finish the bridge, and cares nothing for rules. Both men think the other mad. As a viewer, you wonder if maybe they’re both right in their assessments.

Saito locks Nicholson and his officers into holding cells made of corrugated metal, to bake in the sun. Nicholson will not give in. The enlisted men do their absolute worst in constructing the bridge, and progress is non-existent. Saito seethes. Eventually, fearing his own fate should the bridge remain unfinished, and listening to a bit of reason from the camp doctor (James Donald), Saito frees Nicholson and the officers and puts them in charge of the construction. The men assume that they will carry on doing the worst job they can get away with. But Nicholson doesn’t believe that purposefully doing a poor job is becoming conduct for a British soldier. He orders the men to start over, do a good job, and, most shockingly, try to get the bridge done on time. The men are confused at first, but eventually they embrace the project. Life in the camp improves. The men are proud of their work.

Meanwhile, Shears, through a combination of skill, bravado, and sheer luck, has escaped the camp and made his way to a station where British soldiers are being trained to be commandos. Life is lush at this post, and Shears spends his days on the beach, awaiting his opportunity to head back to the States. But British Major Warden (Jack Hawkins) has other plans. He wants Shears to accompany him on a mission back to the camp, to blow up the bridge. He has no idea that his countrymen are cooperating in the construction. Shears wants nothing to do with the mission, but has no choice but to go.

These disparate goals from groups who are on the same side illustrate the fundamental absurdity that the film presents: the idea that there can ever be fair rules to govern something like war, or that following such rules could only lead to a best possible outcome. For Nicholson, whose orders sent him and his men to the camp, attempting to escape or purposefully sabotaging the bridge project are out of the question. As long as Saito follows the rules of the Geneva Convention, Nicholson will do the work they are ordered to do. But by doing the thing that he believes follows the rules, and is the honorable thing to do, he’s aiding the enemy’s cause and keeping himself from seeing what the greater goal of his side would of course be. He lets himself become an enemy of his own army without ever seeing that’s what he’s doing.

(Cont.)

Pages: 1 2

alec guiness, The Bridge on the River Kwai, William Holden