The Bridge On the River Kwai

This movie from 1957 is a great story. One gets into the story with a great deal of respect for Colonel Nicholson ( played by Alec Guinness) who has at great risk to himself defied a Japanese commander of a POW camp in WWII. However later in the movie we see how even the best intentions can go wrong.

William Holden plays American POW Commander Shears who escapes from the camp and ends up against his will returning.

Guinness was masterful in this role. His voice slides like jelly on toast, the refined officer who wins his battle of wills and as a method of building moral for his troops builds a proper bridge perhaps losing sight of the correctness of this action.

The most telling storyline of the movie for me was that as the deadline for the bridge's completion gets closer Nicholson asks the junior officers to work on the bridge ( the very thing he fought against tooth and nail earlier in the movie) and even rousts soldiers of the sick bay to work to meet the deadline. In the end like Orwell's Animal Farm the Colonel becomes what he rebelled against.

The conclusion like the rest of the movie is excellent. This is a movie that makes you think, their is a smattering of violence and perhaps a few lessons on war to be learned along the way. You could do much worse than spend a Sunday afternoon if you are cooped up inside watching this movie.