The Bridge over the River Kwai
by Pierre Boulleliterary work· published 1952
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The Bridge over the River Kwai (French: Le Pont de la rivière Kwaï) is a novel by the French novelist Pierre Boulle, published in French in 1952 and English translation by Xan Fielding in 1954. The story is historical fiction, with the construction of the Burma Railway in 1942–1943 as its setting; it is partly based on Pierre Boulle's own life experience working in rubber plantations in Malaya and later working for allied forces in Singapore and French Indochina during the Second World War. The novel deals with the plight of World War II British prisoners of war forced by the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) to build a bridge for the "Death Railway", so named because of the large number of prisoners and conscripts who died during its construction.
Adaptations (1)
The Bridge over the River Kwai was adapted into a 1957 film.
The Bridge on the River Kwai1957 · film · 161 min · dir. David Lean · IMDb ↗The classic story of English POWs in Burma forced to build a bridge to aid the war effort of their Japanese captors. British and American intelligence officers conspire to blow up the structure, but Col. Nicholson, the commander who supervised the bridge's construction, has acquired a sense of pride in his creation and tries to foil their plans.
