RETURN TO THE RIVER KWAI (IX)

The psychological battle between the two officers is very much part of the general insanity of behaviour that war always brings with it.Colonel Nicholson ,the Alec Guinness character slowly descends into total madness before our eyes.Completing the bridge becomes a personal obsession and he totally fails to see that he is aiding and abetting the enemy . The haste of the Japanese to build the bridge , the tight schedule they are under,is also well portrayed. The destruction of the completed bridge now makes you shake your head with disbelief. A beautiful structure,the fruit of months of backbreaking toil disappears in an instant . “Madness! Madness!” says the British army doctor ,and you have to agree with him.