David Lean
Il ponte sul fiume Kwai

During the second military tragedy of the last century, a company of English soldiers, led by an upright officer, is imprisoned in a Japanese forced labor camp located in the lush Burmese jungle. A patch of sand spared from the evolution of untouched nature. To make detention less boring, they will be forced to build a bridge over a river, to adapt it to the railway that connects Burma to Thailand.

 

The pivot on which the essence of the film turns is the importance of human values, especially if wisely nurtured. Aside from the predictability of epic war scenes, David Lean focuses the content of the work on the emotional contrast of three men who, thanks to the unforgettable Faber, would have ...the same, identical mood, but the uniform of another color...

The first, Colonel Nicholson, (a superb Alec Guinness graced by the Oscar) English officer, prisoner, precise man, wise, duty-bound and to both military laws and others. The second, the greater rival force, Colonel Saito, (the excellent Sessue Hayakawa) Japanese officer, camp commander, arrogant, with a despotic demeanor and not really complying with the intended regulations. The last, Major Shears, (an overly emphatic William Holden) of the United States Army, long-time prisoner in Saito's camp. In reality, he would be a shrewd troop soldier often subject to opportunism, a condition easily transmissible and of which he gladly prefers the infections. He would have improperly assumed the higher rank to benefit from the "privileged" treatment of a prisoner of war officer. Too bad it will backfire on him at the wrong time.

Nickson's politeness will soon clash with the brutal figure of Colonel Saito, who will attempt to deny every right to the prisoners, foreseen, among others, by the Geneva Convention with which the former defends himself. The aforementioned document does not foresee the exploitation of captive officers in work duties, but Saito, averse to the text, will waste no time inflicting forms of torture in an attempt to "persuade" the reluctant ones. Nothing harms the granite personality of Nicholson, willing to die but not yield. Calm is the virtue of the strong and such wisdom, very effectively, is highlighted in this work.

The anniversary of the Japanese victory over the Russians in 1905, will serve as a pretext to disguise Saito's state of mind forced to succumb. Memorable and, from an emotional standpoint, touching, is the scene in which the latter, conquered in his pride, impotent before the moral integrity of the "enemy," in secret from eyes that may admire him with satisfaction, tries in vain to hold back the boiling anger within him, trembling and clenching his fists until his knuckles turn pale. The outburst will dissolve into a nervous cry.

The construction of the bridge, thanks to the incompetence of a technician in Japanese uniform, proceeds very badly and with little chance of meeting the deadline. Since it's preferable to make friends during peacetime because they might be useful in wartime, Colonel Saito, wisely deposed from the role of executioner, arrives to collaborate with the far more prepared English antagonist, who, among other things, has competent engineers who would complete the work within the stipulated time. No resentment towards the one who just finished torturing him, quite the opposite. An intelligent sort of revenge in demonstrating that the English, even though prisoners and deprived of optimal conditions, are far more capable than the Japanese at least in constructing an architectural structure. Men like Nicholson would make the world better.

The brilliant English director, with this interesting denouncement of the various follies that mar a war, begins a series of masterpieces that will consecrate his talent. Lean shows the viewer extremely suggestive images, also thanks to a brilliant cinematography that prefers wide-angle shots, suited to display, giving due protagonism, also the figures in the background that would otherwise be insignificant. This is a prerogative that will be imposed in the two following epics, namely "Lawrence of Arabia" and "Doctor Zhivago."

Valid examples are noticed in the sequence of the bridge construction under the shaky direction of Lieutenant Miura, with the soldiers in the water checking the various slopes, and in the very amusing one of the vocal assembly line when Nicholson asks Saito for the possibility to sip some tea and put something under the gums. Needless to say anything about the imposing final scene, defined, in reality and in fantasy by the repeated and incredulous emphasis on the term "Madness!". Lean, to make the spectacle enormous, commissioned a Danish company for the construction of a real bridge in wood and fasteners on the Island of Ceylon. Madness in the film for what I cannot reveal and also behind the scenes, for a reason that underscores how much a film can cost.

Lastly, the soundtrack, orchestrated by Malcolm Arnold with a truly remarkable stroke of genius. The musical commentary would go unnoticed if not for a piece by Kenneth Arnold arranged and reprised by Mitch Miller, which makes the film, to say the least, unforgettable. Who doesn't know the Colonel Bogey March whistled by the English soldiers upon arrival at the camp? Who would believe a few hundred sun-baked soldiers, with patchy shoes and some tattered rags stuck to their skin, waving off the misfortune of war captivity with that brilliant tune?