Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)

Trampling on Memories with Good Intentions

Presented by: Hamza Faraz Karamat

Course Instructor: Professor Takuma Melber
Introduction
This Presentation Aims To:
● Contextualize the making of the
film.
● Compare the depiction of POW
camps in the film with witness
testimonies.
● Analyze the role of fiction film
production on memory politics.
● Reevaluate the dichotomy of
‘pro-war’ and ‘anti-war’ movies.
After Colonel Nicholson and his men are brought to a prisoner
of war camp in Thailand, he and his men are directed to begin
constriction of the Mae Klong Bridge which would connect the
Siam-Burma Railway. Nicholson remains firm in his demands for
the humane treatment of him and his men – a demand that the
camp commandant, Colonel Saito, reluctantly obliges in light of
a tight work schedule imposed upon him. At the camp, he
acquaints himself with Commander Shears, an American
prisoner with a strong sense of individualism. After Shears
escapes the camp, Nicholson delves deeper and deeper into his
own obsession with completing the bridge. After Shears is
forced to return to Thailand to destroy the bridge, the film
transitions into a race against time to stop the first Japanese
freight from crossing, all the while Nicholson turns against his
own men, military and country is his firm commitment to British
chauvinism and honour.
The
Siam-Burma
Railway

● The Tamarkan Bridge.

● Began construction in June 1942
in an effort to connect existing
lines to Nong Pladuk and
Moulmein.
● Intended to stream Japanese
supply lines in South East Asia.
● 60,000 POWs and 250,000 Asian
labourers utilized.
● 14 months of construction time.

(Image Credit: Bret Syfert)

 Pierre François Marie Louis Boulle
Creator ● French author and veteran.

Introductions
● Worked as an agent for Free France in China, Burma and
Indochina.
● Captured and forced into labour by Vichy loyalists.
● Composed his memories into the plot of his book.

Sam Spiegel
● American producer of Austrian-Jewish origin.
● Worked with Lean on Lawrence of Arabia (1962) and Bridge on
the River Kwai (1957).
● Spearheaded the film’s publicity strategy in Europe.
● Corresponded with Veterans associations prior to the film’s
release.

Sir David Lean

● British director and screenwriter.
● Credits include A Passage to India (1984), Doctor Zhivago
(1965), and Lawrence of Arabia (1962).
● Won seven Academy Awards for his work on Bridge on the River
Kwai (1957).

(Eggert, 2010)
David Lean and Romanticism
(Joyaux, 1974)
Types
Narrative Liberties

● The pace and chronology of the events.

of ●
●
The extent of American involvement.
The administrative role of the British.
Liberties ● Korean Erasure.

Technical Liberties

● The materials of the bridge.

● The location and names of the location.
● Narrative Liberties ● The method of eventual destruction.
● Technical Liberties ● Techniques used during construction.
● Character Liberties Character Liberties

● Names and likenesses.

● Characterization.
● Power dynamics between the characters.
● The erasure of Japanese agency.
Types
Narrative Liberties

● The pace and chronology of the events.

of ●
●
The extent of American involvement.
The administrative role of the British.
Liberties ● Korean Erasure.

Technical Liberties

● The materials of the bridge.

● The location and names of the location.
● Narrative Liberties ● The method of eventual destruction.
● Technical Liberties ● Techniques used during construction.
● Character Liberties Character Liberties

● Names and likenesses.

● Characterization.
● Power dynamics between the characters.
● The erasure of Japanese agency.
 The 150 Mile March

The Film vs Testimonies

“If you fell by the wayside, you couldn’t go any further and no one
could help you. You were left to die of they made sure you died.”

- Alistair Urquhart, POW

“I heard people used to sing songs… after the second night, I don’t
think anyone had any songs in them.”

- John Hamilton, POW

“We tried to help each other. If people fell, they were beaten. The Japs
were absolutely merciless.”

- William Holtham, POW

The Film vs Testimonies

 Speedo! Speedo!

The Film vs Testimonies

 “It was called the Speedo Movement and it got
worse and worse and worse. We had to work
harder and harder and harder.”

- Jack Bridger Chalker, POW

“The solution to them having too many

prisoners was to work them to death. ”

- Thomas McGowran, POW

“They used to bash us as they went past because

they wanted to get out of the rain, too”

- Bill Toon, POW

The Film vs Testimonies

 British Control

The Film vs Testimonies

The Film vs Testimonies
“Colonel Toosey… every time there was an infringement of Geneva
conventions… he would confront the guards often to get a beating
himself.”

- Clifford Kinvig, POW

“The lizards were quite nice… you grilled them or boiled them in some
in a pot.”

- Bill Moylon, POW

“Everyday was never as good as the last one. It was never good. There
was never any hope.”

- Alistair Urquhart, POW

The Film vs Testimonies

 (Joyaux, 1974)

Hollywood-ization
Character Liberties
Character Liberties
Impact on
Memory

● Mitigation of POW suffering in the

camps.
● Erasure of the power dynamics
that informed individual
decisions.
● Painted an image of officers as
collaborators.
● Undermined Japanese agency in
the construction of the bridge.

(Castagnetti, 2020)
(Eggert, 2010)
Reaction from
Veterans

Members of the National Federation of Far

Eastern Prisoners of War and the Public
Relations Department of the War Office
raised immediate concerns in 1956, when
they were made privy to the script.

(Castagnetti, 2020)

Veteran Silence
Many of the veterans interviewed by the
History Channel discussed a habit of
silence. Where the traumas associated
with the memory of POW life restricted
them from speaking. Veterans would
later cite memories of physical and
sexual abuse as well as PTSD induced
terrors as primary mitigators.
“I’ve never really spoken about it… There’s a certain point
where you don’t want to talk about it.”
- Harold Atcherley, POW
“When I got back, I decided I’d forget everything… I’d
have nothing to do with anything that happened. It’s
finished.”
- Bill Frankland, POW
“It gets a bit overwhelming. They had no idea of the
horrors we had lived through.”
- Bill Moylon, POW
“It’s been very difficult with the family because I never
told them about it. My wife died without knowing.”
- Alistair Urquhart, POW
 (Castagnetti, 2020)

Hollywood-ization
“You have
turned defeat
into victory!”

Creative Motivation
“It is the
anniversary of
our great victory
over Russia.”

Creative Motivation
Cold war and
Memory Politics
Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) as a means of
understanding German memory culture and
the nexus between history, culture and politics
in the context of choice and memory.
● The association of ‘war movies’ with the
United States and ‘anti-war’ movies with
Europe.
● Locating the national character of a
transnational film project and the NATO angle.
● An ahistorical anti-war agenda.
● Concerns with the depiction of
commander-troop dynamics and the impact it
might have on Post-war youth.
● Critics in both camps managed to find points
to support their arguments.
● Denkmal vs Mahnmal of imperialism.
● The expansion of German memory culture as
opposed to a policy of denialism of the past.
(Scholz, 2008)
“We’re gonna
be a busy pair
of grave
diggers.”

Creative Motivation
Creative Motivation
 A liminal space
Built for after a futile war
With noble ambition to heal wounds
To connect two warring factions together
In noble British character
But one that was built under amnesia
Of whom it would immediately aid and harm
 (Joyaux, 1974)

Hollywood-ization
‘ that after the power of destruction must follow the powers of construction. ’
 (Castagnetti, 2020)

The memorial afterlife of cinema

The memorial afterlife of cinema
The memorial afterlife of cinema
JEATH War Museum Death Railway Museum Hellfire Pass Interpretive Center

The memorial afterlife of cinema

Contemporary Depictions and Ongoing Issues
1. Variation in validity between documentaries about the
Second World War and fiction/biopic productions.

2. Should we consider the Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) a ‘war

movie’ or an ‘anti-war movie?’ What distinguishes the two?
Bibliography

The Thai Burma Railroad | SWWEC. (n.d.). https://war-experience.org/events/the-thai-burma-railroad/

Scholz, Anne-Marie. (2008). The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) Revisited: Combat Cinema, American Culture and the German Past. German History - GER

HIST. 26. 219-250. 10.1093/gerhis/ghn004.

Book Reviews. (2008). Asian Studies Review, 32(4), 533–553. https://doi.org/10.1080/10357820802492594

Castagnetti, S. (2020, August 11). The Archivists’ Guide to Film: The Bridge on the River Kwai. The National Archives Blog.

https://blog.nationalarchives.gov.uk/the-archivists-guide-to-film-the-bridge-on-the-river-kwai/

Timeline - World History Documentaries. (2020, June 28). The WWII POWs That Were Forced To Work For Japan | Moving Half The Mountain | Timeline [Video].

YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdnPX65_jAA

Joyaux, G. (1974). “The Bridge Over The River Kwai”: From the Novel to the Movie. Literature/Film Quarterly, 2(2), 174–182.

http://www.jstor.org/stable/43795645
Bibliography

Timeline - World History Documentaries. (2001, January). Death Railway | The True Story of The Bridge on the River Kwai| Timeline

Pülm, Felix. (2015). “The Bridge on the River Kwai” – Memory Culture on World War II as a Product of Mass Tourism and a Hollywood Movie -

Humanities Journal (Graduate School) Ramkhamhaeng University 4 (2), 52-63.

There Are No Bars Here. (2020, April 20). Octavian Report. https://octavianreport.com/article/a-second-look-at-bridge-on-the-river-kwai-2/

Ebert, R. (n.d.). The Bridge on the River Kwai movie review (1957) | Roger Ebert. © Copyright 2022.

https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-the-bridge-on-the-river-kwai-1957

The Bridge on the River Kwai. (2010, November 8). Deep Focus Review.

https://deepfocusreview.com/definitives/the-bridge-on-the-river-kwai/