What is The Bridge on the River Kwai?
{{Infobox movie | name = The Bridge on the River Kwai | image = | caption = Video cover | director = [[David Lean]]<br>[[Gus Agosti]] & [[Ted Sturgis]] (assistants) | producer = [[Sam Spiegel]] | writer = [[Pierre Boulle]] (novel)<br>[[Carl Foreman]] & [[Michael Wilson]] (screenplay) | music = [[Malcolm Arnold]] | cinematography = [[Jack Hildyard]] | editing = [[Peter Taylor]] | starring = [[Alec Guinness]]<br>[[Sessue Hayakawa]]<br>[[William Holden]] | studio = [[Columbia Pictures]]<br>[[Horizon Pictures]] | distributor = [[Sony]] | released = 2 October 2 1957 | runtime = 161 | country = [[United Kingdom]] | language = [[English language|English]] / [[Japanese language|Japanese]] / [[Thai language|Thai]] | budget = [[United States dollar|$]]3 million (estimated) }} '''''The Bridge on the River Kwai''''' is a [[United Kingdom|British]] 1957 [[movie]] from [[Columbia Pictures]], based on [[Pierre Boulle]]'s [[1952]] book ''The Bridge over the River Kwai'' ({{lang-fr|Le Pont de la Rivière Kwai}}). The movie was mainly filmed in [[Ceylon]] (now [[Sri Lanka]]) and also in [[England]]. In 1941 the [[Japan]]ese Army invaded [[Thailand]]. They built a railway to link [[Bangkok]] to [[Rangoon]]. Thousands of Asian workers and [[POW]]s ([[prisoner]]s of war) died while working on the project. Part of this project was building [[bridge]]s over [[Thailand]]'s [[River Kwai|Kwai Yai]], at a place named Tamarkan, which is near a town named [[Kanchanaburi]]. The deaths of the Asian workers and the prisoners were real events, but most of the book and the movie are not true. The British soldiers were [[slave]]s; they did not help the Japanese. Two bridges were built; one was made of wood, one was made of concrete and steel. Both bridges stood for two years and were destroyed by [[bomber]]s in [[1945]]. In the movie the bridge is destroyed by [[commando]]s. A real [[Railway|train]] rode over the bridge as it blew up.