Representation of British Identity in the Films of Post World War II - Case Study Example

Representation of British Identity in the films of Post World War II with Special Reference to the Bridge on the River Kwai Questions of identity, whether personal, regional, or national, have always been an area of interest for film directors across the globe. Films are a powerful medium of expression. They portray the cultural values, traditions, history etc., of the people of a nation. An analysis of a number of selected films of a particular period can throw light into the social realities of that time. The Second World War was clearly a defining moment in British history, but it was also of immense importance to the British film industry. What started out as a means of conveying propaganda became a way of revisiting, reshaping, and rethinking the experiences of the years of war. In this way, many of the war films of the post World War period turned out to be true portrayals of the British identity. The war brought the British film industry to the forefront of national consciousness in a way it had never managed before and has never regained since, and it helped to launch the careers of several major directors like Powell, Pressburger, David Lean, Carol Reed, and so on. There are many writings about the golden era of British films. In the book The Finest Years: British Cinema of the 1940s, Charles Drazin underlines the importance of the Second World War as an inspiration to filmmakers. “The nation suddenly found itself galvanized into action, creating a strong communal bond, which encouraged the renaissance of the British cinema.” (Hamer 2001) The films about the Second World War provided effective propaganda and a much-needed boost to public morale at a time when the war was not going well for the Allies. The heroism of men, coupled with the patriotism, was an important quality for the citizens of a country. The patriotic feeling and a sense of a strong communal bond were at their height during the war. So, most of the British war films concentrated upon the heroism of men in the services. An understanding of the core values of British identity is essential in understanding and analyzing the films of the post-World War films. One of the core values in Britain is the rule of law which believes that no one is above the law. Even the government has to abide by the rule of law in Britain. It is a pluralistic state, i.e., a multi-cultural and multi-faith society. It means that all parties, sects, faiths, and ideologies must tolerate and respect the existence of their rivals. There cannot be any kind of discrimination based on social status or religion. The sovereignty of the crown in Parliament is another unique feature of British system. The supreme authority vests with the Lords, the Commons and Monarch. Next, the country acknowledges and honours personal freedom. It is even ready to accept and tolerate eccentricity in others, provided no one else is harmed. Along with the individual freedom, the country recognizes its individual’s freedom to buy and sell property without any fear of confiscation. This policy, in fact, boosted the country’s economy and enabled it to become one of the happiest and prosperous nations on earth. British people believe in the institution and the concept of family. A stable society is back up by a stable family system. In addition, the nation is proud of its history. It makes sure that the new generation inherits its stupendous series of national achievements, political and social culture, and a set of legal rights and obligations from its history. The World War II shattered all noble values of the people in Britain and all over the world. People lost faith in them and in the government. All the moral and spiritual values gave way to selfishness and materialistic way of thinking. There were no safety for one’s property and life. However, there were deliberate attempts to regain all the lost values after the war. Film makers tried to project a sense of national unity, duty consciousness, faith in the basic institutions of family, state etc., through their films. They portrayed the futility and the meaninglessness of war, and kindled a sense of hope and love for humanity in the people. A number of the films of post World War were attempts to cure the wounded minds of the people. What is interesting is that the underlying factor of many of these films represents a quest for the revival of the British National identity. It is a fact that these attempts led them to some extreme ways of thinking and opened new ways of life. The post war films cultivated a tendency towards a mingling of fantasy and realism. In a majority of the productions, there were the obvious projections of national identity. However, this so-called identity manipulated and emerged in various forms and levels. In the peripheral level, the subjects of the films seemed different, but the underlying consciousness of all the films talked silently about the “essential Britishness’ (Bergfeder 1998). Films of Basil Dearden such as The Halfway Hose (1944) and They Came to the City (1944) talked about a nationalist idealism through a series of recurrent images of sex and fantasy, and through allegory. The two notable post-war productions from the same director, The Captive Heart (1946) and Frieda (1947) deal with the post-war realities such as homecoming, reconciliation, and a quest for personal freedom as expressed through homosexuality. In some cases the British identity in particular and European identity in general, are determined by their attempts to get rid off the horrible memories of the cataclysmic war. This repairing is done by a return to fantasy and myths, as seen in Michael Powell’s A Matter of Life and Death (1946) and The Red Shoes (1948). The celebrated director Thorold Dickinson, who started his career in the pre-war period with The High Command with an anti-imperial theme, returned with an endeavour to create a “more favourable image of the British Empire.” (Landy 1998). The film hints at a proposed alliance and reconciliation between the colonisers and the colonised. A sense of collective responsibility for the national cause remained another feature of the British thought pattern during this period. Such instances can be perceived in films such as Pimpernel Smith, the First of the Few, the Gentle Sex, and The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp. The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp tells the experiences of a staunch British soldier on the Boer War and in the World War II. However, it should be added that, while the sense of collectiveness is represented in such films, the films themselves acted as a catalyst for the growth of this sensibility, thereby forming an interdependent relationship among the two. Through some down-to-earth strategies, Ealing Comedies and Gainsborough Melodramas also contributed to the attempts to create a sense of unity to recover from the fragmentation happened due to the World War. Awakening of women and their contributions to the national identity and culture also are represented in films such as Madonna of the Seven Moons and the Wicked Lady. The main concern in these films is to understand how the War affected the traditional notions of sex and class. The films of the 60s could be dubbed as a further step towards individual freedom by creating young individualists and expressing sexual openness. Room at the Top, directed by Jack Clayton, depicts a young man’s endeavours to break the social chains by marrying his employer’s daughter. Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1960), a celluloid version of Allen Sillitoe’s novel, is an “early ‘angry young man’ drama” that speaks about “the life and frustrations of a working class man and the impact he has on the women in his life.” (Dirks 2007). Look Back in Anger also repeats the same theme. Another sub area of war films, which aroused patriotic feelings in the minds of British youth, is POW (Prisoners of War) films. It talked about the hardships the mighty soldiers of Britain suffered in the hands of the enemies in World War II. Usually the themes dealt with sufferings under German Concentration Camps. The Wooden House (1950), Albert R. N. (1953), The Colditz Story (1955), and The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) are the major films in this sub-genre. This paper gives special attention to The Bridge on the River Kwai as a cross section of the British transformation and discusses it in terms of the representation of true British identity. The Bridge on the River Kwai is a fabulous anti heroic epic on World War II by the master director David Lean, and is considered as one of the best Post War classics in world cinema. The film is based on a real incident during the war, and the actual hero is Lieutenant Colonel Philip Toosey. This mega-budget film anticipated other classics like Lawrence of Arabia (1962) and Doctor Zhivago (1965) by David Lean. Pierre Boulle wrote the screenplay based on his own French novel of the same title. The film was one of the biggest hit of that year and it acclaimed eight Academy nominations and bagged seven Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Director. The Bridge on the River Kwai tells the story of some British POWs as captives in the camps of Japan in Burma during World War II. The stubborn and proud English Lt. Colonel Nicholson and his counterpart Japanese Colonel Saito are the two opposing forces in the film. When the movie begins, Colonel Nicholson leads his men into the camp under the command of Colonel Saito. As a foil to Colonel Nicholson, we see the American captive, the cynical Shears, who shamelessly bribes the guard to be included in the sick list. Colonel Saito informs the newly captured soldiers about the rules of the camp. All the soldiers, irrespective of their rank, have to do manual work for the newly constructed rail bridge across the River Kwai. Nicholson protests against this referring to the Geneva Convention, according to which officers should not be forced to do manual work. But Saito was not ready to agree to this. Nicholson’s unwillingness to back down infuriates Saito, who makes Nicholson and his officers stand in the heat for the whole day. In the evening, Nicholson gets beaten thoroughly at Saito’s quarters. While other officers are put into punishment cage, Nicholson is sent to private confinement. Later, Saito who fears the disgracement that may fall upon him for not completing the bridge, releases Nicholson and friends, and sheds tears in private. Having seen the disorganized methods of bridge construction, Nicholson orders his officers to make plans for a good bridge. This time, Shears manages to escape to Sri Lanka where he meets a member of the British Special Forces, Major Warden, who seeks his help to destroy Kwai Bridge. Shears happily volunteers the mission hoping to become a Major. On the other side, the construction of the bridge progresses under the hard work and command of Nicholson. He changes the poor site of the Bridge as planned by the Japanese Engineers. The new bridge will be constructed 400 yards downriver. Meanwhile the troop under Major Warden lands near the river. Shears and Lt. Joyce are assigned to blast the bridge using explosives on the next day, when a Japanese train full of soldiers passes through the bridge. In the next morning, Nicholson discovers the explosive wire and follows the wire with Saito to find out Joyce. Nicholson’s hard attempt to save the bridge fails. Every one kills each other and the bridge is destroyed. The film ends with the most “memorable last lines in the history of motion pictures”, “Madness!...Madness!” (The bridges on the river kwai 2007) Like many other war films, The Bridge on the River Kwai also reinstates the futility of war. Dennis Schwartz observes that “The point made is that war is a futile effort and those who are in it are subject to fits of madness.” (Schwartz 2004) There is no wonder in the selection of such a thematic pattern. Even though Britain’s long tradition starts from Celtic periods and passes through Anglo- Saxon Chivalries, the disastrous power by which the World War II shattered the dreams and desires of the common man, and deromanticised the concepts of war, compelled people to make an introspection. The consciousness of the people acted as a guiding spirit for some genuine directors like David Lean, who sought to give colour and tongue to that consciousness. The futility of war brings out the theme of reconciliation also. Here, the reconciliation never means a happy conclusion. Nicholson’s attempts to help the Japan engineers to build the bridge are his first step towards this end. At this point, Nicholson is ready for manual work also, which is called by James Berardinelli as “the madness of a commander who defines collaboration with the enemy not as treason, but as honourable.” (Berardinelli 2003). It is not only the unbending, moralistic Nicholson who moves towards a reconciliation, but the cruel and arrogant Colonel Saito also shows a kind of reverence towards the perseverance shown by Nicholson. Nicholson’s attempts to help the Japanese, and at the end, his attempts to save the bridge from Major Warden and Joyce shows his sense of duty, which he upholds as a part of the British identity. The World war inculcated a sense of duty in the minds of all the citizens of Britain. British men considered it their privilege to be a part of the Armed Forces. However, in the case of Colonel Nicholson, his act of protecting the enemy’s bridge is considered by some reviewers as a “distorted sense of duty.” (Boulle 2001). But it can only be considered as his sense of duty towards the entire humanity, against an immediate casualty. There is another major reason behind Nicholson defending the bridge, which calls our attention towards a different dimension that is the part of British identity i.e. pride. At a certain point in the film, pride surpasses the basic sense of duty. Here the choice is between whether to lean towards one’s sense of duty to the mission or to one’s sense of duty to oneself. “Nicholson is so proud of the bridge his soldiers have constructed, so sure that the product of their labours will last, that he appears more enamoured of this feat.” (Lean). He also considers the bridge as a product of his thirst for reconstruction and perfection. He never takes it as something that belongs to the other or his foe; and at any cost, he cannot allow the destruction of the product of his inclination. The sense of pride of Nicholson represents the same quality that the youth of Britain instilled and bore in them after the World War II. The audience considered the film as a representation of Britain’s might, resistance, and will power to advance even in the face of adversity. Since the film is a historical adaptation of an actual incident, it is obvious that the film will create a sense of pride and endurance. The film is a celebration of male heroism, and no major female characters appear anywhere in the plot. It takes us to an assertion that heroism means male heroism. World War helped only to strengthen this notion of male dominance. On the whole, what the film shows is “the strength and nature of the British character and the moral superiority of the British to everyone else by virtue of their commitment to a code of behaviour which involves the preservation of law, order and justice for the love of those qualities.” (landy 1998). The interdependency and mutual exchange of ideas as well as spirit between culture and art is beyond doubt. In the case of the most popular media like cinema, it is more obvious. Jeffrey Richards remarks that “both mass-produced popular and elite culture play a role in defining and disseminating national identity, values and character (Landy 1998). The careful analysis of some popular as well as classic films of the post World War II proved that almost all the films, irrespective of the genres and themes, tried to evoke a sense of the national identity. It will be wrong to assert that this phenomenon is so particular to post war period only. However, the fact remains that no other period in the history of British cinema showed so much a yearning to accomplish this objective. Works cited BERARDINELLI, James (2003). Bridges on the river Kwai, the. [online]. Reel view. Last accessed 24 August 2007 at: http://www.reelviews.net/movies/b/bridge_kwai.html BERGFELDER, Tim (1998). Liberal directions: basil dearsen and postwar British film culture-review. [online]. Historical Journal of Film, Radio, and Television. Last accessed 24 August 2007 at:   http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2584/is_4_18?pnum=4&opg=53747551 BOULLE, Pierre (2007). The bridges over the Kwai. [online]. Random house publishing group. Last accessed 24 August 2007 at: - http://www.randomhouse.com/rhpg/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780891419136 DIRKS, Tim (2007). 100 favorite British films of the 20th century. [online]. British film institute 100. Last accessed 24 August 2007 at: http://www.filmsite.org/brit100.html HAMER, Jonathon (2001). British Second World War Films. [online]. Movie mail. Last accessed 24 August 2007 at: http://www.moviemailonline.co.uk/scripts/media_view.pl?id=98&type=Articles LANDY, Marcia (1998). Films and British Identity from Dickens to Dads Army - Review. Historical Journal of Film, Radio, and Television. [online]. FindArticles.com. Last accessed 24 August 2007 at:   http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2584/is_4_18/ai_53747537 LEAN, David. The bridges on the river kwai. [online]. 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