The Bridge On The River Kwai

1957's The Bridge on the River Kwai is the first war movie from my list I have watched. It stars William Holden, Alec Guinness, and Sessue Hayakawa. It is surprisingly realistic for a 50's war movie. The depictions of POW camps are pretty dark and grim. The film is about the ultimate case of Stockholm Syndrome as Guinness's British officer and his men are captured by the Japanese and must work in a prison camp commanded by Hayakawa's character. I started the movie rooting for Guinness as he was locked up in the "oven" for refusing to work and despising Hayakawa's character. As the film progresses, I begin to dislike the British Col, though, as he loses his mind and begins to not only help the Japanese, but becomes the de facto commanding officer of the POW camp. Hayakawa becomes more and more sympathetic as the film goes on as he loses control and realizes he might lose his life. The only part of the film that rings false is Guinness's protest on behalf of the officer's doing manual labor. His character refuses to have his officers do any kind of real work as it is a rule of the Geneva Convention. This part is as real as it gets when it comes to officer's. The fake part is when Guinness wins this fight and the enlisted prisoners celebrate the victory as if they had won the war. Any real enlisted man wouldn't put up with an officer's prissy attitude if they were in a POW camp together, especially if they were doing the brunt of the work. I was able to suspend my disbelief though. William Holden has a supporting role as an escapee of the camp who comes back to blow up the bridge that has been built by the prisoners. He pretty much play William Holden in this movie and gets top billing in the film since he was the biggest star at the time. The movie belongs to Guinness ans Hayakawa, though. Their scenes together are great and the way they react to each other, trying to figure the other out, is great. I was glad to see Guinness in a role that didn't involve a lightsaber and I have never even heard of Hayakawa before this. Guinness and Hayakawa were both nominated for Academy Awards, with Guinness deservedly winning for Best Actor. I can only hope the other war movie on my list will be this good