The bridge over river kwan movie - Essay Example

The bridge over river Kwan movie The bridge over river Kwan movie is one of the works of creativity that have made a lasting and profound impact upon the collective film audience in terms of its content and structure. This movie is acted on the World War II setting in which a British soldier is defeated and taken captive by Japanese military in a military prison camp. The British colonel is assigned to build a bridge Kwai that would be used to attack Burma by the Japanese people. This is a war movie but it is more than mere entertainment but very informative in terms of character presentation (Matelski 45-7).

The main characters in the movie are military leaders from Thailand and British. Both of them command their groups towards timely and effective completion of the bridge. Colonel Nicholson is the captured British and Colonel Saito is the leader of the prison camp. The two characters show different leadership style which is critical in military commanding and any other organizational unit. At the beginning of the movie, it can be noted that there is a clash of ego and differences in opinion between Nicholson and Saito.

Saito is hell-bent on ensuring all men get to work irrespective of their cadre which is contradictory to Nicholson’s strict discipline which makes him assert that his men are not supposed to offer manual labor (Allon 38). Their labor management and project execution approaches seems to differ and this can be highlighted as shown below.Colonel Saito exercises directive style of leadership while Colonel Nicholson is an indirect influencer: These styles can be supported by the fact that Colonel attempts to command and lead from the front by forcing prisoner English servicemen to work beside their men and he takes control in his hand when he fells the Engineer has not delivered desired results (Bourke 65-8).

On the other hand Colonel Nicholson asserts his leadership acumen by vehemently refusing to give in to Japanese demands. He makes good his course of action by working alongside his men which is inspirational to the workers.It can also be observed that Saito acts purely from an objective leadership standpoint when he decides to give his workers off and time to rest despite the tight schedule to complete the bridge. This is a shift from Colonel Nicholson subjective approach which is exhibited when he decides to redesign the bridge although with ulterior motives to bring down colonel Saito.

Both leaders show result driven leadership style in which the end justifies the means. Colonel Nicholson shows outstanding level of wisdom when he works alongside his men and consistently strategizes on motivational factor to complete the bridge. He even later redesigns the bridge with intention of easing the process and speeding up completion within the stipulated deadline (Boulle and Xan121-4). General Saito also shows consistency in his quest for result and offers anything at his disposal including workers morale boosting to realize the completion of the bridge.

A critical lesson that can be leant from the two characters and the movie in general is that when execution takes priority over strategy in leadership the results is likely to be catastrophic.Work citedAllon, Yoram. Contemporary British and Irish Film Directors: A Wallflower Critical Guide. London [u.a.: Wallflower, 2001. Print.Boulle, Pierre, and Xan Fielding. The Bridge Over the River Kwai: A Novel. New York: Ballantine Books, 2007. Print.Bourke, Roger. Prisoners of the Japanese: Literary Imagination and the Prisoner-of-War Experience.

St Lucia, Qld: University of Queensland Press, 2008. Print.Matelski, Marilyn J. War and Film in America: Historical and Critical Essays. Jefferson, N.C: McFarland, 2003. Print.