013 The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)

The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) was listed as number 13 in the American Film Institutes top 100 list. It is the story of a group of prisoners of war who are captured in Japan during World War II. They are put to work building a bridge for the Japanese military. Most of the prisoners are British, and (after quarrelling with the Japanese commander over the issue of officers doing manual labor) the British commander decides that the troops will do a proper job of building this bridge as a matter of pride and as a way of boosting their moral. The usual procedure for prisoners of war is to do as little as possible so as not to strengthen the enemy position, but the British commander's plan is a good one. The morale of the troops is greatly improved, and it has an extremely positive influence on their health and survival. One of the few American prisoners escapes and makes his way back to the allied position. He is able to give them information about the prison camp and plan a mission to blow up the bridge. Since he knows more about the area than anyone else, they send the American on the mission to blow up the bridge. The climax of the movies has the British troops finishing the bridge with a sign declaring themselves the engineers and walking across the bridge to their new prison camp. During the ceremony the British commander notices the explosives wired to the bridge, and he forgets himself. He forgets that the bridge has served its purpose for his troops. Now it can only serve the enemy. He has put so much of himself into the bridge that he fights to defend it against the allied mission to destroy it. He ends up with his hands around the throat of his former prison companion, and another member of the insertion team has to shoot him in the back. The bridge is destroyed, but so is the British commander and the American escapee.

It's kind of sad story. The British commander is an extremely foreign type character but fascinating at the same time. The production value is very good. The violence and hardship suffered by the troops is clean and not at all gory. I don't think its an accurate representation of life in a Japanese POW camp by any means, but it is a very interesting look into the conflicting psyches of two very different soldiers.