While this is an excellent movie when viewed for what it is, a work of fiction based on actual historical incidents, I found the story of the real bridge far more interesting. The real officer Lieutenant Colonel Philip Toosey was nothing like the Alec Guinness character.
shareJust watched this tonight on PBS, first time since I saw as a kid in a theater years ago. Did not seem as intense or dramatic as back then. His reason for suffering in "the oven" (and his officers too) because he would not allow his officers to do manual labor seemed stupid. Ending seemed flat and self consciously
"epic". Half the film seems like a tourist travelogue of Ceylon which changed it's
name to Sri Lanka in 1972.
RSGRE
"His reason for suffering in 'the oven' .... because he would not allow his officers to do manual labor seemed stupid."
Suffering and dying for a principle often seems stupid to a lot of people. You got the message correctly without thinking about it deeply enough. Thank God there have been men who've taken that road, rather than the easy one, because the difficult road has more often than not led to a better world for those of us who, as a consequence, don't have to make such choices as often.
It wasn't about "allowing his officers to do manual labor" it was about getting the Geneva Convention respected. You know, the very convention that tries to make sure that POWs are treated humanely. It's about not letting them take away their rights. They start making officers do labor and then what? Had you paid attention you'd have noticed the soldiers were treated a lot more fairly after the fact.
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