What Makes "The Bridge on the River Kwai" Great.

David Lean's 1957 Best Picture winner is one of the most fascinating and in-depth takes on the subject of war. It tackles very compelling themes and asks many questions regarding the subject of war, such as what the difference is between being a good soldier and a good man? and how in war there is no truly good or evil side, but rather the side your on and the side you're up against, which strengthens the idea of how in war, no one ever truly wins.

Set mostly in a Japanese POW camp during the midway point of WW2, the film centers around British Colonel Nicholson (Alec Guinness) and his fellow soldiers who are told by the Commander of the prison (Sessue Hayakawa) that all soldiers regardless of rank are to work on building a Bridge that would create a route for supply trains. Nicholson agrees to have his men work on the bridge but insists that officers be excused from manual labor as officers performing manual labor violates the Geneva codes. These causes Nicholson to clash with the Commander of the prison, who forces Nicholson to go through harsh punishment as a result of his disobedience. The construction of the bridge goes nowhere as the workers mostly just slack off on the job. These displease Nicholson and eventually, he and the Commander come to the agreement that the officers will advise and supervise the work, with Nicolson believing that the building of the bridge will boost his men's morale. Unknown to them, however, a plane is set in motion by British forces to destroy the bridge so supplies cannot reach the Japanese army.

The various characters in the film all perfectly explore the themes of the film and the complexity of war. Each individual character story is perfectly balanced between each other thanks to a great script by Carl Foreman and Micheal Wilson and a great ensemble. Alec Guinness won a well deserved Oscar as Nicholson. Nicholson is honorable, strict, and at times quite stubborn. He represents the perfect officer who is loyal first and foremost to the codes of the military. He has his man take part in the bridge-building not because they're forced to, but rather out of a sense of national pride. He sees the completion of the bridge as a sign of great dedication and hard work on the side of the British, regardless of who they built it for. This character could have easily been unlikable because of his stubborn nature, but the script, as well as Guinness's performance, ensures that as the film draws to an end and Nicholson looks at the work with pride, we support his enthusiasm and come to respect him. Jack Hawkins plays Major Warden who leads the charge in destroying the bridge. He is very much a companion character to Nicholson who considers the companies venture to destroy the bridge as the ultimate goal, with everything else being second, including the lives of his men. Colonel Saito the commander of the camp is also brilliantly portrayed here by Sessue Hayakawa. He could have easily been a stereotypical bad guy with no personality, but even he is shown as a man committed to orders similar to Nicholson and Warden. The bridge's completion is literal life or death for him as if it isn't completed, he will be forced to kill himself for his failures in the form of "Hari Kiri". He and Nicholson clash at first but come to look past there differences and develop mutual respect for one another. Shears played by William Holden is essentially the everyman in this story. He represents the average soldier's perspective, making him the most relatable. He disguises himself as an officer throughout the film in the hopes of better treatment and is disturbed by the intense dedication and stubbornness he sees in Warden and Nicholson. He demonstrates his humanity rather than military code in choosing to escape the prison camp rather than stay. We see this again later when he doesn't abandon Warden after he is injured during their mission to destroy the bridge, even though Warden told him to leave him and that he would have left Sheers if he was the one injured.

David Lean is obviously no stranger to films that are epic in scope, clocking in at 2 hours and 41 minutes, Bridge on the River Kwai never drags on thanks to Lean's amazing pacing, to where eventually, the different storylines come crashing together in the film's amazing climax. It begins with Warden's party sneaking into the camp under the cover of dark to set the charges to the now completed bridge. Meanwhile, the POWs are celebrating their accomplishments of the bridge, unaware of the activity going on beneath them. As the mourning comes, Nicholson takes a walk around the bridge in anticipation of the train to arrive. This is a brilliantly intense scene, throughout it all we are just waiting for a literal explosion. It's a brilliant use of the classic aspect of the audience knowing something the characters don't and waiting in intense anticipation to see if they discover it before it's too late. When he does discover it, he is forced to watch in shock as chaos ensues with the Japanese firing at them and Nicholson watching helplessly, muttering "What have I done". The ensuing chaos is a mess with Nicholson himself being shot by fellow British officer Warden and falling on the detonator destroying the bridge and the train, with the films closing line giving an accurate description of the events, "Madness, Madness!!". As the final shots of the film go over the destruction of the scene, Lean, as well as the audience are left with the question, why did all this have to happen? It's a brilliant way to tie all the stories and themes in the film together, with the characters themselves representing those themes laying on the ground. It perfectly exemplifies the idea that no one wins in war, as what we see at the end is just death and destruction, as well as a destroyed bridge and train that could have done so much good for everyone.

The Bridge on the River Kwai stands as one of Lean's greatest achievements, right up there with "Lawrence of Arabia". It also still stands as one of the finest war films ever made.