by Pierre Boulle
A real riveting page-turner!
I watched the movie about 20 years ago as part of an effort to watch as many as possible of the “Top 100” movies of all time. I thought I remembered some key scenes, but in fact I misremembered. I’m really glad I picked this book up.
British Colonel Nicholson (Alec Guinness) and his men are captured by the Japanese in the South Pacific, and the POW’s are made to build a railway bridge (that’s right, over the River Kwai) to help the Japanese link Bangkok with Rangoon.
Colonel Nicholson is dignified and proper and stands on ceremony at all times. He has a battle of wills with Saito, the commander of the POW camp. Nicholson insists that officers should not be working side-by-side with enlisted men. The officers should be officer-ing. Nicholson’s suggestions are not welcome, and he’s beaten and treated horribly for weeks. Yet he won’t back down on this point. Saito is finally made to give in, by the fact that the bridge is way behind schedule (because the men keep sabotaging the building effort) and Nicholson’s convinced him that the men will work much faster and quicker if it’s British officers commanding them.
The thing is… this isn’t a mind game Nicholson is playing. Once he’s released from imprisonment, he actually does start commanding the men to quickly and effectively build the bridge. The project goes from disaster to architectural wonder way ahead of schedule.
This is the hinge of the plot. Colonel Nicholson is so attached to always doing the correct thing, to the best of his ability, this even extends to aiding the enemy. He’s thoroughly forgotten what side he’s on.
I am glad to be done with the book so that I can now get that annoying whistling theme out of my head.
