The Bridge on the River Kwai [1957 film]

British POW's build a bridge for the Japanese while an American escapes.

It's a reluctant A; there are a handful of important moments scattered throughout the movie that don't play as well as they should. But it's an unique and exceptionally strong story, and really stands out among all the tedious and recycled Epic Movies of the time. In fact, it's the only movie of its type from this era that I've liked at all so far.

Concept: A
Story: A
Characters: A
Dialog: A
Pacing: A
Cinematography: C
Special effects/design: A
Acting: A
Music: B

Enjoyment: A

GPA: 3.7/4

The Bridge on the River Kwai is a fictionalized version of real events. There was no single "Bridge on the River Kwai" that was dramatically dynamited during World War II in the way the movie portrays. However, the story is inspired by the construction of the Burma Railway (also known as the Death Railway) by the Japanese using Allied prisoners of war and forced laborers between 1942 and 1943. The real bridge most closely associated with the film is one of several built over the Mae Klong River (later renamed the Khwae Yai River in part due to the film's popularity) in Thailand. These bridges were indeed bombed by Allied forces, not dynamited by prisoners as in the movie. Specifically, air raids conducted by the Allies, including the show more U.S. Army Air Forces, damaged some of the bridges in 1944 and 1945 to disrupt Japanese supply lines. The most notable bombings occurred on bridges made of steel and concrete, not just the wooden ones shown in the film. So, while the cinematic dynamiting is a dramatic invention, the real bridges faced destruction from wartime bombings. Today, one of the reconstructed bridges still stands near Kanchanaburi, Thailand, as a historical site and tourist attraction. show less

After settling his differences with a Japanese PoW camp commander, a British colonel co-operates to oversee his men's construction of a railway bridge for their captors - while oblivious to a plan by the Allies to destroy it. (IMDb)

La storia epica della costruzione del ponte sul fiume Kwai e della grande avventura di un commando alleato per distruggerlo. Il primo kolossal diretto da David Lean. Una produzione spettacolare, "Il Ponte sul fiume Kwai" ha catturato l'immaginazione del pubblico aggiudicandosi nel 1957 ben 7 Premi Oscar, inclusi quelli come Miglior Film, Miglior Attore (Alec Guinnes) e Miglior Regia. Anche grazie all'indimenticabile fischietto della truppa inglese in marcia, Il Ponte sul fiume Kwai continua ad essere ancora oggi una delle più memorabili esperienze cinematografiche di tutti i tempi.

Un colonnello britannico guida i suoi uomini nella costruzione di un ponte ferroviario durante la prigionia in mano giapponese. (fonte: Wikipedia)

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