MovieChat Forums > The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) Discussion > What else was Saito up to?

What else was Saito up to?

posted 9 years ago by ScifiMethods
5 replies | jump to latest

After he is embarrassed about mismanaging the construction of the bridge, we see Saito in a bad mood in his room. Then close to completion he is writing some sort of note and cuts a lock of his hair off, and places the knife in his jacket. Then at the bridge opening, he checks the knife in his jacket.

All of that seems connected but can't really see why? What did I miss?

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[–] wlp325 9 years ago

Could this be his way of saying, "We didn't build the bridge, the British did." Like an admission of personal failure?

Rest in peace, Roger Ebert. You were the best.

[–] ScifiMethods 9 years ago

It almost looks like he was preparing to kill himself, but I only say that because there is a reference to suicide by knife earlier in the film (when the Japanese engineer is "fired" by Saito and the British prisoner mimes stabbing himself).

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scifimethods.com -News and commentary on Scifi, focus on Cyberpunk, Tech-Noir/Future-Noir

[–] rtw416 9 years ago

Hari Kari...when a Japanese soldier feels he has brought shame to himself-they perform this self mutilation ritual.Originated with the Samurai.Rather than being captured,it was more honorable to take ones life.
Saito must have felt like he lost control of his own project and suicide would be the only way out.

[–] cfwente 9 years ago

Saito is celebrating that he does not have to commit suicide. He is simply sending a letter home with a lock of his hair as a token. If he was concerned about his honor and the honor of his command enough to commit suicide (which he tells Nicholson he doesn't want to do -- quite emphatically), he would not have left the British begin the attempt. You're making too much about the drawing of a knife which one needs to do in order to cut off a lock of hair.

[–] greenleafie 8 years ago

Saito was torn between two cultures- the old and the new. On the one hand, he honored the traditional Japanese fuedal code, yet he had been educated in the 20th-century, and knew that reason supercedes tradition- a more modern view. He followed the traditions to a point, but when it came to actually taking his life, reason told him to give it more thought. In the end, if Joyce hadn't stopped him, Saito would have used the knife to save the bridge, thereby redeeming himself from the shame he felt.