Review of The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) by Jhon E — 17 Oct 2012

The Bridge on the River Kwai is an excellent war film. It is probably one of the best war films ever. It is extremely well thought-out, with an excellent plot, which goes beyond killing the enemy. While it is fiction, the book it is based upon, it is an idea that originated in a bridge built in Myanmar -- to those slow people Burma. The film I admit starts a little shaky, it is difficult to realise what is actually going first, but it soon becomes clear.

The film starts with the camp and the English slave army entering Base Sixteen with that lovely whistling tune. It has how they go one strike, or the officers do so, when not wanting to do manual labour as all the rest of the men. I realise it sounds horrible, but when you watch it, the officers are still likable characters. After the Japanese leader of the group allows them to lead the group instead of do manual labour, after they isolated them in horrible hot conditions. The men start to build a descent bridge that the British Colonel becomes quite fond of and gets a dedication for the enemy's bridge. Despite the absurdness, you can understand why he has such a passion for it.

While all this is happening, an escape attempt earlier on in the film, that was thought have all three who attempted to escape killed, had one survivor. After he was helped by a local village and was taken to the British Army base, is than later asked to return to the bridge with three other men, so they can destroy it. After a bad start they eventually reach the bridge and load-up the bridge with explosives.

The ending was extremely good, and thought there to be a little comedy amongst the bloodshed. I will not tell you how it all ends, but let's just say I was p***ed-off, and also happy, it went all-over the place. It was great and the closing credits had the funniest music.

One of the greatest films of all time, as well as one of the best war films ever.