10 Best Films Set In The Pacific War

For a long time, the suffering of the British soldiers who were taken prisoner by Japanese forces in Burma (today's Myanmar) was not understood. Many people in Britain considered them cowards for being captured, or thought that they had failed in their soldierly duty to defeat the enemy wherever he was found.

The Bridge on the River Kwai tells that story, so full of hardship and suffering, in a way that shows the dignity of those maligned prisoners of war.

The POWs are held in a desolate camp, under a despotic commander who forces them to build a bridge over the treacherous Kwai. This exhausting work is less an engineering project than a death sentence.

At first, the soldiers deliberately delay construction. Soon, however, their senior officer Nicholson (Alec Guinness) decides that they must build the bridge. He is convinced that doing so will allow his men to feel the dignity and satisfaction of professionalism, will improve morale, and will show the Japanese what the British are really made of.

This movie, which won seven Academy Awards, is a strong character drama, stuffed full of great performances and incredible photography. The horrified expression on Nicholson's face when he realises that he has helped the Japanese war effort by building the bridge is worth the price of admission itself.