This is quite a movie for 1957, with stunning cinematography, interesting and creative camera work and acting (by 1950's standards). I loved the ironic use of patriotic music at the end, [spoiler]as several main characters wound up dead and the bridge, expertly crafted by the British for their captors, the Japanese, went down in a heap.[/spoiler] Several character dynamics were at play throughout. William Holden's character, Shears, was a kind of free-living hedonist, who was more interested in escaping the conflict and getting back to drinking and girls and only came along on the follow-up mission reluctantly. He is foiled by Nicholson and Saito, the Japanese commander, who seem to represent doctrinaires on opposing sides. Nicholson is bound by rules and regulations and finds his honor there, while Saito has a strict goal of completing the bridge for his higher-ups, and although early in the film, he seems to be willing to stop at nothing to get the British officers, along with the rank-and-file soldiers, to work on the bridge, but near the end, shows some glimpses of his common humanity with Nicholson and even respect for Nicholson. It's hard to tell whether Saito is referring to the sunset or the bridge, but he called one or the other "beautiful," while looking at the sky over the mountains, as Nicholson mused about his life and accomplishments up to that point. Also, in the back half of the film, Saito shows a measure of leniency toward the British soldiers and with the defiant Nicholson, as the British commander takes over construction of the project. The doctor, Clipton, who balks when Nicholson enlists sick men from his hospital to work on the bridge, perhaps represents the middle ground of these two characters by trying to warn his commander that willingly working on the bridge for their own captors could be construed as treason by aiding and abetting the enemy. Nicholson, who has becomes obsessed with completing the bridge at this point, and even has his soldiers make a fancy sign with his name on it after the work his done, proceeds anyway, and not coincidentally, among these characters, [spoiler]only Clipton walks away from the jungle with his life, shouting "Madness! Madness!", as he surveys the final grim scene.[/spoiler]

Colonel Bogey's Barmy Army.

OK! Lets get it out there right away, for historical facts of the real Bridge on the River Kwai story, one should research elsewhere, this film is a fictionalised account of the said events. Sadly there are those out there who simply refuse to judge this purely as a piece of cinematic art - and cinematic art it is.

A squad of British soldiers are held in a Japanese POW camp in the Burmese jungle. The respective Japanese and British leaders clash but an understanding is finally reached to build a bridge across the River Kwai. The importance of which could prove crucial in more ways than one...

It won 7 Academy Awards and 4 BAFTAS, and it was the film that saw the great David Lean enter his epic period. And what a start it is. Kwai is a masterful piece of cinema, it has a magnificently intelligent and complex screenplay - with tough edged dialogue in the script, is bursting at the seams with high quality performances, and beautifully photographed (filmed in Ceylon). Thematically it's about the folly and psychological madness of war, which in turn is ensconced in sub - plots of genuine worth. It all builds to a tremendous finale, where everything we have witnessed is realised with a deftness of talent from across the board. 10/10