10 Best Performances In War Movies
2. Alec Guinness - The Bridge On The River Kwai
David Lean was one of the great directors of scope and spectacle - perhaps the most epically inclined filmmaker to emerge from Britain - and his 1957 classic The Bridge On The River Kwai makes brilliant use of the budget and freedom allotted to him.
He found the perfect lead in Alec Guinness, an actor of real class and talent, one of the rare thespians able to dial up his performance to a grand scale, but retain enough humanity and believability to remain on the right side of the line.
He’s given a big character to play with, too. As Lieutenant Colonel Nicholson he is a distorted version of the British army’s self image. Captured by the Japanese and tasked with building a bridge, he can’t help but do the job as best he can, in spite of the tactical advantage it gives the enemy.
Guinness descends into madness in the most cinematic of manners - it’s a huge performance, but so well observed and heartfelt that it never becomes hammy. He becomes wild and scary, but sad and understandable at the same time. Genuine class.