Review of The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) by Zain H — 18 Jun 2013

David Lean is a master filmmaker. He's made epics such as Lawrence of Arabia, Doctor Zhivago and A Passage To India. His adaptions for Charles Dickens books such as Great Expectations and Oliver Twist been superb. Plus, he redefined the romance genre with his highly acclaimed film Brief Encounter. Two of his movies are on AFI's Top 100, he's been given the AFI life achievement award, and BAFTA named their Best Director award after this great artist. I loved Lawrence Arabia so much, it's one of my favorite films of all time. So I have high respect for David Lean, and after watching Lawrence of Arabia I had huge expectations for The Bridge on the River Kwai. Did it live up to my expectations? Well, The Bridge on the River Kwai is a really good movie, but it's not great.

The Bridge on the River Kwai is set in World War 11 about a group of British Soldiers that are sent to a Japanese POW camp and they are forced to build a bridge for the desperate Japanese Colonel an the captured British Colonel's descent into madness. The film stars Sessue Hayakawa, William Holden, and an amazing Alec Guinness in a star defining performance.

The Bridge on the River Kwai's actors are marvelous. Alec Guinness superbly portrays a stubborn Colonel's subtle snap into madness. It's a mesmerizing performance that you never see coming. His calm and structured posture and voice shows that he's in control of his situation and himself. But slowly, and very subtlety, he loses his grasp on his mind and everything around him which soon creates a huge mess and the structured world around him quickly falls apart. Watching all this unfold in intriguing and you're on the edge of your seat the entire time. Sessue Hayakawa is very solid as Colonel Saitio. He's frightening and tough and just plain scary. But the best part about his acting is his switch to a lost man who has lost grasp on his world. Just like Alec Guinness, he's someone who thinks he knows what he's doing, but he really can't see through his stubbornness and self pride. William Holden is average as his character. He's really not interesting at all which, actually, makes his whole storyline really boring. I found myself bored during Shears storyline to destroy the bridge. It was like any other adventure film and it didn't seem that exciting. It was the scenes at the POW camp that kept me invested in the movie, and mostly due to the brilliant performances.

The direction from Lean is AMAZING. Every shot is carefully constructed and carried out with such precision that you literally feel the tension in the film. His camera shots and angles make the film look big and gigantic like a war epic should be. The film's pacing is near perfect. There is hardly any use of intense music throughout the movie leaving a realistic feeling of suspense and tension. The film is shot beautifully and the ending scene is just breathtaking and for the last scene only the movie should be seriously watched on the big screen. David Lean forces you into this hot, mucky jungle which looks amazing. His wide angle shots and his camera movement bring you into this whole different atmosphere.

There a few problems I had with his style. He made the film lighthearted at times, which believe me, really added to the film. But by the end of the movie where the film for darker and darker, the lightheartedness still stayed and it sort of brought me out of the film. I really disliked the lighthearted touch the movie had by the end. Mainly because the end gets very dramatic and dark but Lean keeps on pushing in comedic moments and sappy music to go along with it. Still, with the epic scope and beautiful control of the camera, by the end of the film Lean succeeds in giving us feast for our eyes and also a stab to our hearts.

The best thing about "Bridge" is definitely the cinematography. The movie looks HUGE and mostly due to the amazing wide angle shots and panned out shots throughout the movie. The rich colors pop out in the film especially during the scenes in the jungle near the river look great. But the thing that makes the entire film worth while is the last scene. (Spoiler Alert) When the freakin bridge blows up and the train is destroyed!!!!!! That's amazing and just glorious to watch! I was awestruck the entire time and I loved it!!! It's one of the best scenes in film history.

With the great cinematography, amazing acting, and near perfect direction, there are still some flaws to this film. Like I said before, William Holden's story and character is dry boring an the adventure aspect to destroy the bridge is quite slow and boring compared to the other plot line. The film is also really slow and I didn't really get into the film until the second half started. Once Alec Guinness started to become the crazy man he became then I got really interested. The music and feel of the film is very lighthearted at points when the film should've been dark and dramatic. It really brought me out of the film. Plus I didn't really care for a couple of characters in the movie and that didn't make me emotionally attached to the films and its characters. These things really bothered me and that's why I gave The Bridge on the River Kwai an 80%. It's not as good as it could've been. But, David Lean's perfectionist talent in this film will make me begin to watch more of his films.

After seeing the epics Lawrence of Arabia and Bridge on the River Kwai, I am beginning to love and respect David Lean. If his other films are as good as these two movies, he will soon become one of my favorite directors of all time. The Bridge on the River Kwai shows off David Lean and Alec Guinness's talents and it represents how a war epic should be done.

Recommendation: Yes, watch in the big screen if you can.