The Bridge on the River Kwai

The Bridge on the River Kwai is another one of those classics that I had never seen until just recently but Pierre Boulle's novel came my way first and so I gave it a go. The novel, The Bridge over the River Kwai, is a remarkably tight and efficient story, and one I read from cover to cover in a short space of time, which is quite unlike me! Then the book was adapted in 1957 into a 160 minute epic and is regarded as a classic today. Having now read the novel, I was keen to see how this relatively short story would be expanded and how director, David Lean, would handle the scale of it all.

Set in Thailand during WW2, a bedraggled British POW camp are ordered into the jungle to construct a bridge for the Japanese. The British commander wants to protect the spirit of his men and maintain a certain standard, even at his own expense, but the Japanese commander sees them all as prisoners and demands they begin work under severe circumstances. 

The Bridge on the River Kwai is the kind of epic film that would lose something if it were made today; there would be an abundance of CGI and studio sets to save on expenses. Instead, in the mid-1950s, Lean and his crew went into the jungle to endure heat and various diseases in order to bring this story to life, and the result is simply quite incredible. Watching in 4K today, the film has aged very well in terms of visuals alone but the story is also gripping to watch as we see these prisoners ordered in to helping their enemy. 

I really enjoyed how Lean takes his time pacing the film, without ever becoming indulgent or prolonged in any way at all. He develops and builds each character very well and the pay-off at the end feels earned as everything comes to a close. A slight observation though is William Holden's character who is granted a bigger role, than the literary character, due to him being a star at the time and his scenes all work very well but it's one area where it doesn't change all that much in the overall picture and could have been left alone.

The Bridge on the River Kwai is an excellent film from start to finish and easily does justice to the thrilling novel, and I can easily recommend this. Alec Guinness, Holden and Jack Hawkins lead a fantastic cast here and it is the kind of epic that is hard to imagine being made today. Hopefully we never see a remake as this is perfect and should be seen, I just wish I saw it a whole lot sooner. And I would also highly recommend the book which has been engulfed in the shadow forged by Lean.