Friday, 28 March 2014

The Bridge on the River Kwai

 The Bridge on the River Kwai Description




Hello Friends, I'm back again with description of one more thrilling movie. Today I'm gonna describe "The Bridge on the River Kwai." This is very old movie in today's context. It was released in 1957 and it was very difficult to get that movie on net and download it in bluray print. 

The Bridge on the river Kwai


River Kwai is actually a river in Thailand. I've read in a Safari magazine that this a true story. Well, not all of the story is true but something of it is true. It is set during the time of second World War. Japan captured English and American soldiers and made them work in the jungles to lay a railway line connecting Rangoon and Bangkok. Japanese were very rude and did not treat the soldiers properly. Many of the soldiers died due to diseases, snakebites, animal attacks and must mention due to Japanese soldiers.

The above was what is reality now I'll describe what actually happens in the movie. The movie starts with scene of camp where Japanese have brought the English soldiers to build a bridge on the river Kwai to lay a railway line between Rangoon and Bangkok. The Japanese head of the camp is Colonel Saito whose English language pronunciation is rather funny. The English soldiers brought there are headed by Colonel Nicholson. Clipton is the English doctor in the camp who treats the sick soldiers. Major Shears is an American prisoner rather Australian there. He was a naval major and he is most keen to attempt an escape from that camp.  

It is important to explain the physical geography of that camp which makes escape an almost impossible task. The camp is island or actually a dense jungle and it is very difficult to cross the river. The camp therefore has no watch towers, no wires. 

Colonel Saito instructs the troops of Colonel Nicholson that all the officers along with men will do manual labour to build the bridge. Nicholson protests against this and says that his officers will not do the manual labour. He also shows Saito a copy of Geneva Convention which stated that war prisoners must not be ill treated and all that. Saito disagrees with all that calls the Geneva Convention's code as coward's code. Nicholson orders all his men to go and do the labour while all the officers and he himself stand there. Saito then asks Nicholson and his officers to join their men in labour work till the count of three or else he'll shoot them. Nicholson thinks that he is bluffing and keeps standing. Shears (American Naval Officer) knows Saito better than Nicholson and he tells Clipton (Doctor) that Saito meant what he said and he would really shoot Nicholson. Clipton on the count of two goes in middle and says Saito whether this was his Soldier's code, to murder unarmed men. Clipton had appaled to Saito's ambition and Saito goes back to his chamber leaving Nicholson and his officers to stand all day in scorching sun. At evening when his men return, officers are imprisoned in small box which Shears called as oven. Nicholson is taken to Saito's office, Nicholson's men protest and create chaos, Nicholson too is put into one of those ovens. His men do not like this and they do not work properly and bridge construction is regularly interrupted. Saito gets worried about the progress and 12th of May is deadline for him or else Japanese will kill him. Then he uses variety of methods to convince prisoners which I'll describe after describing one more twist in the story.

The Captain Shears (American Naval Officer) attempts an escape along with two other men. The other two are shot by Japanese, Shears jumps off a waterfall and somehow he reaches a Siamese village and from there he takes a boat and afterward reaches Ceylon(present day SriLanka). He is rescued by British surveillance plane.

Now, I'll return back to Saito's methods. First, he calls Clipton (Doctor) to his office and asks him to meet Nicholson and say that if his officers won't work then he would close the hospitals and force the sick to work. Clipton goes to Nicholson and says all these, but Nicholson doesn't agree and calls it a blackmail and says that it's the question of principle and he won't compromise anything for the honour of the British Army. Clipton after returning back from the meeting calls both Saito and Nicholson mad. Then, second method; he gives presents to the men of Nicholson and removes the engineer Mikaro from his post calling him a bad engineer and unworthy to command. Then, thirdly he secretly brings Nicholson for dinner at night and offers him beef and Scotch. He offers Nicholson a choice that he won't have to do any labour and just his junior officers have to act as helping hand. But, Nicholson declines this too and says that Geneva Convention is quite clear on that. Then, at last Saito's patience wears off and on the occasion of anniversary of Japanese army, he releases the Nicholson and his officer and agrees that they won't have to do the manual labour. Nicholson's men rejoice at the victory.

Meanwhile, we find Shears at Ceylon where we find that he wasn't actually any major, he just wore the uniform of his dead Major assuming that officers would be treated with respect and given facilities but his assumption proved to be wrong. He wanted to go back to USA but the British want him assist them to sabotage the Kwai bridge which was going to ease Japan's intrusion in India. Shears refused and said that he was an American and British cannot command him but British found out that he had tried to double cross and said that American Navy was going to charge him for that and so they offered him to assist them and in return they'll make arrangements for Shears to return to U.S.A. Shears constantly tries to refuse them and makes variety of excuses to say that he is incapable of the job and he does not deserve to be in team he could spill no beans on British and he had to collaborate with them. 

Nicholson finds his men undisciplined and sees that bridge is something that can bring back discipline and order. The Nicholson's men include some engineers which have build many bridges in India and they conclude that Japanese had been building bridge in completely wrong place and bridge would collapse when first train runs on it. Nicholson arranges a meeting with Saito and recommends that he had been building bridge in completely wrong place and he would help making a better and strong bridge at another location downstream and all other technical aspects. Clipton called Nicholson a traitor as he was helping build better bridge than even what Japanese could have built but Nicholson says that the bridge would represent the esteem and class of British army. Nicholson and his men are found unable to complete the bridge on right schedule and therefore Nicholson asks all his officers to do labour and even recruits the sick from hospital, it is very observant fact that does not asks Japanese for help as he does not want to give them any credit at all. At last, they complete the bridge the day before and train would come over there next day.

Meanwhile, Shears and his commando team reach near the bridge and their head Wardens is injured due to bullet. Shears and his mate plant dynamite under the bridge at night and put the cable across the opposite bank of river where Japanese had not been patrolling. It is important to mention that the river had been brimming at the night but at morning it lowered. Therefore, the cable became visible and commando team feared that their mission may fail. Japanese soldiers do not notice that but Colonel Nicholson notices that and takes Saito down to find out the reality. The commando that was hiding on the opposite bank feared that Nicholson would soon come there as Nicholson by that time had found out the cable. The commando took out his dagger and stabbed Saito thinking that Nicholson was British and he would support him but his assumption proved wrong and Nicholson holds him and calls out the other Japanese soldiers. Shears comes out from his hideout and tries to release commando mate from the clutches of Nicholson but he is shot by Japanese. Nicholson is shocked to see him as he had heard in the camp that he had drowned in his attempt to escape. The third commando, the head who was injured by bullet shoots Nicholson and other Japanese soldiers. Nicholson keeps thinking that he had done terrible mistake and his dead body falls on the detonator which commando had kept on the opposite bank and bridge blows out. The train which was coming that way falls into water and the film ends.

That's it.

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