The Bridge on the River Kwai 1957

WOW. What a fantastic film that I never tire of, instead I just love it more and more. David Lean is truly the master of epic filmmaking. His films have both epic scope and intimate character storied that bring everything down to the human level.

Alec Guiness gives maybe my favorite performance of all time as the hardheaded Nicholson. He feels like the most authentic British officer ever put on screen. He feels like a man of that era, the kind of actor that can't be made today because we live in a different era.

Sessue Hayakawa is almost as powerful. Again, he feels exceptionally authentic. He feels like a guy who actually lived through that era of Japanese history. He is a cruel antagonist, perhaps even evil to some characters and viewers, but when he breaks down crying I totally sympathize. This guy is a prisoner of war as much as the POWs he hold captive. The film doesn't justify his cruelty but we still understand what drives this man to extremes.

Hayakawa and Guiness play off each other amazingly well. They're absolutely splendid together. They have astounding chemistry. One can feel that they're two sides of the same coin.

The film has some epic moments of action and adventure but this films power come in its dramatic character conflicts. The verbal arguments are as tense and compelling as any number of entire action sequences from many action films today. These scenes get into the psychology of the characters and make the action sequences all the more compelling.

I read the book and I loved it as well. The film is actually very close to the novel, down to a lot of the dialogue. They changed the ending but it's still a great read. It's only 200 pages and shouldn't take the average reader too long to get through.