FAQ for
The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) More at IMDbPro »

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?For detailed information about the amounts and types of (a) sex and nudity, (b) violence and gore, (c) profanity, (d) alcohol, drugs, and smoking, and (e) frightening and intense scenes in this movie, consult the IMDb Parents Guide for this movie. The Parents Guide for The Bridge on the River Kwai can be found at http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0050212/parentalguide.

The consensus is that this account is heavily fictionalized particularly in its portrayal of Japanese prison camp conditions and Col Nicholson's behavior/attitude. Amazon sells a History Channel entitled http://www.amazon.com/Story-Bridge-River-History-Channel/dp/B000AABL12

(from highice007 - this is his/her assessment, some spelling corrected) I saw the "Real Story of the Bridge on the River Kwai" about the building of the bridge and the Burma-India road. It seems they got two things right: there was a bridge built by British prisoners and it was on the River Kwai. Other than that, complete bollocks.

The prisoner concentration consisted of British, Australian, American, and Dutch prisoners of war, all of whom suffered terrible atrocities at the hands of their Japanese captors. The special showed interviews with actual prisoners of war, now in their 80's & 90's. They were offended when they saw the movie was portrayed as what actually happened.

1. First, the Bridge was made of steel & iron.

2. Second, the march and discipline had long gone due to low rations, diseases, and torture.

3. The Japanese did not need British engineers as they had plenty of their own.

4. The bridge was destroyed by bombers, not by an SAS type of mission.

There were also Chinese prisoners who were kept separate from the rest and treated 100 times worse than the others, as the Japanese seemed to have a special hatred in their hearts for them, as the Germans did for the Jews.

The movie is a great adventure film, but should only be regarded as such.

Also the British Officer played by Sir Alec Guiness didn't care about the bridge being built properly for British prestige, he was just trying to keep the Japanese soldiers from torturing his men. Also there were Korean conscript soldiers who were fighting for the Japanese, but were treated badly by them.

All the prisoners interviewed said they had nothing against the Koreans. Last note: There was a former Japanese officer who was an eyewitness to some of the atrocities and he said he was ashamed of what Japan had done.

I'm very puzzled by this, but I've gathered together some of the more plausible explanations from the message boards.

From user sinebubble: Just watched 'Kwai and I was left wondering about the ending. The British officer that was shot in the foot, I believe the characters name is Maj. Warden, is shooting motars at the end to distract the Japanese soldiers. After the train is blown up and pretty much everyone dies, he looks back at the Siamese women, who recoil from him, and says "I had to do it or they could have talked" (or something to that affect). What exactly did he do? I don't believe he was the one that shot Colonel Nicholson or Maj. Shears. He was up high and they were shot by the Japanese, I thought. They were trying to blow the bridge up, so why would he have shot them before this task was accomplished?

From user mayagod: According to the novel, Warden kills all three with a mortar blast - his claim is that he doesn't want them to be captured by the enemy. When he reports this all back to Colonel Green, the Colonel agrees with him. The movie changed some things from the book - but they stuck to the dark ending, even if they did muddy it up by making it seem like the Japanese had killed the heroes. Also, the Siamese in the book assisting Warden thoroughly agree with his action.

From critic-2: Shears (William Holden)obviously dies before that last mortar shell is sent up. He crumples over right after he says "You!!!!!" in an angry, resentful voice to Nicholson (Alec Guinness), and he clearly reacts as if he had been shot when he is running across the river to kill Nicholson himself. In fact, the reason that he finally crawls up to Nicholson instead of running is that he has been shot, though not by a mortar. My interpretation of Warden's remark is that he felt the need to rationalize sending up those mortar shells, which eventually were what killed Nicholson. Perhaps he felt that if he had let Nicholson live, Shears and the other soldier would have been captured alive and tortured by the Japanese into revealing everything (because Nicholson was shouting for help).

From hittzen: OK. Either we have some bad editing (at one point the movie was like the book but they changed it without making it consistent) or the following far-fetched theory. Warden loads the mortar before Holden goes down, after the other guy is killed. He fires it at the Japanese (apparently) after Holden goes down. However, a second or third mortar blast lands right near Guinness and the other two. My hypothesis: Warden doesn't know that his men are dead. When Holden goes down, however, he knows (thinks) that the bridge operation is hopeless. So he aims to kill his own men, in case they aren't dead already and could be captured wounded. This makes a symmetry as per the above post. Holden won't leave wounded Warden behind. But Warden doesn't hesitate. The Siamese girls understand all this. I said it was far-fetched, but I've watched that ending a dozen times and I'm damned if it makes sense any other way. Also: I disagree that Guinness detonates the bomb accidentally. He sees it, and staggers toward it, after he realizes what he's done. Hence despite his complaints Holden was essential to the mission after all--if Guinness hadn't recognized him, the bridge operation would not have succeeded. Furthermore, Warden turns out to be the truly superfluous member of the mission.