Bridge to Nowhere

In the interest of trying to have Kinsey learn a little something about where we're going before we go, I picked up a copy of the classic David Lean movie, The Bridge on the River Kwai, a couple of months ago.

I had seen the movie many, many years ago and didn't really remember much except that it's about prisoners of war building a bridge (and the ending which I will not give away). Then, as I was reading some travel books, I learned that the bridge is located in Thailand and that it's a good place to visit.

So I pulled out the movie, and Kinsey and I had movie night tonight, as there are not many nights left before we leave. The movie was great--maybe a little long and in parts a little slow--but there are wonderful scenes with Alec Guinness's, Colonel Nicholson standing up to Colonel Saito and refusing to allow his officers to do manual labor, instead enduring standing in the hot sun for a day, beatings, and a month in the "Oven." The ending is suspenseful and well done, although the ultimate theme of the movie was a bit perplexing for a 12-year-old.

In all, the movie brought out a lot of questions and discussion, but the biggest question was clearly, "How much is true?" In this era of instant answer gratification, I went to Wikipedia...and sadly found that not much is true at all. In Thailand, the bridge itself is known as the Death Railway, so named because 13,000 prisoners of war (plus 80-100,000 impressed civilian slaves) died building the railway. Otherwise, not much of the movie is true.

So, sadly, not the best homeschooling moment. But I know it will make visiting the Death Railway more memorable for both of us. And at least I looked up the facts, so we'll know the truth when we're there.