One of the greatest war films ever made

Am I the only one who finds that the best war movies were all made quite a long time ago? The Guns of Navarone, The Great Escape, The Magnificent Seven and now this film, far surpass 99% of what is served up today.

One of the greatest war movies of all time, Bridge on the river Kwai is the true story of allied POWs forced to work on the infamous Thai-Burma railway.

Alec Guinness stars as the strong willed British officer who steadfastly stands up for the rights of his men and officers as set down by the Geneva Convention, despite the typical wartime Japanese brutality and disregard for the rules of war, which is displayed in this case by the commander of the camp, Saito.

The weak, demoralised and malnourished prisoners need a focus and a goal to prevent them from languishing and dying and Guinness supplies that with his efforts to show the Japanese what the British can do by throwing all efforts into building a strong, well designed and sturdy bridge over the River Kwai after earlier efforts supervised by the Japanese had been poorly planned shambles.

Guinness puts in one of his best performances as the British Commanding officer, who keeps his men going, but eventually succumbs to his pride, in an unromantic, but very true to life and satisfying climax to a brilliant movie. The acting from the supporting cast is top notch also and the psychological side of the ugliness of war is examined in subtle and far, far more satisfying and effective manner than in the recent "The Thin Red Line", which attempted to get philosophical in a very "in your face' and cliched manner. (See my review).

A must for any war fan, though it might be a bit light on the action for some as it is more of a drama/war/action movie rather than straight action/war.