Finally, Nicholson agrees, not so much to cooperate with his captor as to provide a morale-boosting project for the military engineers under his command. Nicholson refuses, despite all the various persuasive devices at Saito's disposal. Saito insists that Nicholson order his men to build a bridge over the river Kwai, which will be used to transport Japanese munitions. The Bridge on the River Kwai opens in a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp in Burma in 1943, where a battle of wills rages between camp commander Colonel Saito (Sessue Hayakawa) and newly arrived British colonel Nicholson (Alec Guinness).
