moonfleet

Is "Kwaî" a worshiped film in Great Britain ??

"Very difficult !" "Craazy!"

Lord Brett

It is very highly thought of on terms of acting and production, though I think its reputation has been slightly reduced by the number of surviving British Prisoners of War who worked on the Burma railroad and can attest that the treatment they received from the Japanese was far worse than depicted in the film.

moonfleet

For me, as non-british spectator, this film is more about madness (wonderfull Alec Guiness!), than about real facts of war, the parallel action in the jungle is very good, all actors are very good, you just feel the heat.....and there is real suspens
I don't enjoy "war genre" films, but this is the only one I do really like

Moon.

"Very difficult !" "Craazy!"

penfold

I too have a problem with its (Based on a French novel) storyline....the real Officer in Guinness' role was a hero, suffered with and for his men, and frustrated Japanese plans....and was utterly humiliated by the film's publicity when it was produced. He had suffered enough; the filmscript should have been rewritten to avoid any possible confusion with real events.
You are right; the film is about madness rather than 'real facts' of war....so it could have been set in any war in the more distant past, or even in the future....it didn't have to be based around some real situations, but unreal events, just fifteen years previously.

Bit of a Bay Window, what??

Rob Compton

Is it madness or is it obsession? Discuss!

Name and form number at the top of the sheet....

rgds
Rob

JD_Fan

I like the movie, but it isn`t one of my Top 50.

I have on question about the end of the film:

What does Major Warden (Jack Hawkins) means by "I had to do it"?

"He means it. I'm sure he does. It's a question of face, pure and simple. He can't give in."

christoph404

About 8 years ago I visited Sri Lanka and undertook my own tour of some of the films locations. I was based in Bentota in the south and in order to travel around one had to hire taxi with driver for a few days, the roads were basic to say the least and it took hours to travel relatively short distances. The main location of the bridge is still there north of Candy, as you drive along a steep windy road there was a small sign crudely hand painted on a piece of rusty steel pointing down a path with an arrow saying, "Bridge on the River Kwai location" About a 10 minute walk along a small path through the jungle led to the sight. The width of the river seemed much smaller than in the film, further down it widened but I think during filming a small damn was built to make the river wider and deeper. There was nothing left of the wooden bridge of course or any remnants of the wrecked train,but on each side of the river bank where the bridge was built there were some large round holes drilled in the flat rock bank that would have held main log struts of the structure. There was a guide on hand who lived in a hut by the river with his wife , his english was good and he had appeared in the film as one of the village children flying the kite which the bedraggled escapee Holden thinks is a buzzard, he also gets to place garlands around Holden when they send him on his way after he recovers from his trek through the jungle. This man had made a small living ever since the film crew packed up and left by ferrying people across and down the river in a semi circular coracle, he was asking 50 pence, I think I gave him about £4 which must have been at least a months wages to him, I got the impression that not a lot of visitors ventured that way. And I can confirm that those very large bats are a feature of the jungle in Sri Lanka, they are quite scary looking things but are thankfully fruit eaters rather than blood suckers! I say jungle in the loosest term, we were never far from the main road or our driver with his air conditioned vehicle, my girlfriend at the time had assumed we were going on a beach holiday so I thought I had better not push my luck on the 2 day tour of locations of a film she hadn't even seen!
As for the film, well I think its a great action adventure, escapist entertainment in the true sense with great performances all round. In that respect it works as a film and piece of entertainment, that it bears no relation to the real events that it is based on is unfortunate and while I enjoy the film for what it is I tend to think of it as a work of fiction rather than a historical story. Perhaps if Lean had changed the name of the river to something fictional, then that would have avoided much controversy and confirmed that he was not trying to tell a true story,because in that respect the film fails and while I would uphold that criticism of the film I still enjoy watching it.

Marky B

I think it is worth adopting that angle when watching the film again,Chris. All the same,I sometimes think films based on historical events do massage reality in order to conform to a storyline,which I do accept,apart from blatant changes such as U-571. Apollo 13,for example was a brilliant reconstruction of the events in 1970 of the lunar mission,but there was artistic licence in the story.
Ta Ta
Marky B

I am special. The heavens always open for me.

orpheum

To be honest i think that it trivialises and cheapens the experiences of the POWs.Years ago i was aquainted with an exPOW and he was quite troubled,30years on by his experiences.The whole idea of helping the Japanese to construct the bridge must have irked the survivors considerably.

Welcome To Highbury The Home Of Football

Marky B

Bridge On The River Kwai is also Will Smith's favourite film,so if a remake is ever going to be made.............
Ta Ta
Marky B

I am special. The heavens always open for me.

homeguard

You were brave! How many people would have got away with that? Top bloke!

Regards,
HG

samper

christoph404 - I too was there maybe 10 years ago. But unlike you, I chickened out of going down further than a very shaky looking draw bridge that crossed the river. Scared the hell out of me - I don't like heights and the river was high and flooded. Thinking back, wish I had done it now.

Lean is a God to me. But this was not one of his greats. Nevertheless I am looking forward to a blue ray, if it ever turns up.

earlb

Make sure it's not the restored version as on the front Instead of a Military band they've got a bontempi - disgusting.

I'd give my right arm to be ambidextrous.