Kiddie Matinee

[This was written as an assignment for a family audience writing class in UCR's MFA program]


Bridge on the River Kwai

What parents would bring their four-year-old son to a 161 minute war movie? Mine. We were in Atlantic City for Passover… long boring meals in dusty, circa 1920 hotels frequented by circa 1880 Jews. So, visiting the local cinema to see 1958’s hit movie (it won seven 1957 Academy Awards) seemed like a good idea.

The Japanese operated a POW camp in the jungle, maybe Burma or Thailand. The prisoners were all British, save one American, a bon vivant playboy who later escapes. The Japanese coerce the Brits into building a military railway bridge over the river, but the British officers, led by Colonel Nicholson (Alec Guinness), refuse manual labor. The Japanese commander, Colonel Saito, unsuccessfully tries to crush the stubborn Nicholson into submission. Saito finally relents, but explains to Nicholson that he will have to kill himself if he fails to deliver the bridge on time.

Nicholson decides that his men need better discipline and what better way to create esprit de corps than to build a first-rate bridge that will last for hundreds of years? He also wants to demonstrate his superior English ingenuity and know-how to the Japanese. In his single-minded, myopic quest, it never occurs to him that he’s aiding the enemy. In the meantime, the escaped American is drafted back into service; his personal knowledge of the bridge and POW camp are invaluable to launching a commando raid.

In the end, everyone dies, but not before the bridge is blown up and Nicholson has his Aristotelian tragedy “discovery scene” (“What have I done?”). He then intentionally falls dead on the plunger/detonator which blows up the bridge. Not so tragic after all; he doesn’t die in vain.

There are numerous conflicts, internal and external. The obvious stakes are high. But Nicholson’s internal conflict is the true drama. He must choose between pragmatism and his sense of honor and superiority. He’s the British Empire incarnate--rules and honor trump all things practical. Wasn’t it a Brit who was rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic? Of course, it was this very unrelenting, steadfast ethic that made the Brits a world power, but Nicholson’s inability to compromise undermined his cause. Another theme is anti-war. War brings out the best and worst in us, but at what cost? War also forces upon us explosive inner conflict. No wonder good war movies are great grist for the drama mill.

My favorite character was the British medical officer, a humanitarian whose moral keel never wavers. I’ve only re-watched this movie a couple of times and I watched the first half of it last week—Netflix inexplicably removed it from “watch now” status before I could finish it.

Back in 1958 I think movie toys were limited to books (I had Tales of Uncle Remus from the movie, Song of the South) and Disney stuff, including my ceramic Pluto. I’m still looking for a TNT detonator and a bridge to blow up.

I never exposed my child to this movie as she’s a girl (sorry I’m not PC here, but young girls usually don’t care for war movies, especially my girl). Now that she’s an adult, I think she would appreciate it.

I vividly remember two things. How large and high adult heads are in movie theaters and also the bridge blowing up and crashing the train.