Name: Roel G.

Gabriel

Course & Section: Bs-Criminology 3B

THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI

The Bridge on the River Kwai is a 1957 epic war film directed by David Lean and based on
the 1952 novel written by Pierre Boulle. Although the film uses the historical setting of the construction
of the Burma Railway in 1942–1943, the plot and characters of Boulle's novel and the screenplay are
almost entirely fictional.[3] The cast includes William Holden, Alec Guinness, Jack Hawkins, and Sessue
Hayakawa.was initially scripted by screenwriter Carl Foreman, who was later replaced by
Michael Wilson. Both writers had to work in secret, as they were on the Hollywood blacklist and
had fled to the UK in order to continue working. As a result, Boulle, who did not speak English,
was credited and received the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay; many years later,
Foreman and Wilson posthumously received the Academy Award.

The Bridge on the River Kwai is now widely recognized as one of the greatest films ever
made. It was the highest-grossing film of 1957 and received overwhelmingly positive reviews
from critics. The film won seven Academy Awards (including Best Picture) at the 30th Academy
Awards. In 1997, the film was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" and
selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the United States Library of Congress.
It has been included on the American Film Institute's list of best American films ever made. In
1999, the British Film Institute voted The Bridge on the River Kwai the 11th greatest British film
of the 20th century.

During WWII, the Japanese have set up a POW camp in Indochina on an island on the
banks of the Kwai River. The primary purpose of this location is so that the Japanese can use
the labor of the POWs to construct a railway bridge over the river, the bridge which will be a
vital link for the Japanese forces in the war.

The Bridge on the River Kwai focuses on a man's ability to have dignity even when under
the greatest pressure. Colonel Nicholson spends his time keeping his troops together and the
officers in charge even before they arrive in the camp. He believes that to sacrifice their dignity
by being ordered about by the enemy would be to admit defeat.

Col. Nicholson and his officers refuse to work alongside their men, according to the rules
of the Geneva Convention. Saito has made all the other officers work, and he sees no reason
why these men shouldn't work as well. Because they refuse to give in, he puts them in the
"ovens." When they are finally released, they retain their dignity by willingly helping Saito build
his bridge. They use the best wood, the best methods and the best system to show that even
under this horrible...