10 War Movie Moments You'll Never Forget

4. "What Have I Done?" - The Bridge On The River Kwai

The Bridge on the River Kwai Alec Guinness
Columbia Pictures

The first of two David Lean films to appear on this list (no prizes for guessing what the other is), 1957's The Bridge on the River Kwai is a true Shakespearian effort, as much a look into regimented obsession as it is a cracking adventure film.

Set in the Second World War and focusing on an Allied operation to halt the construction of a Japanese rail bridge in Burma - construction of which has been led by Allied prisoners of war - The Bridge on the River Kwai featured a tremendous cast including William Holden, Jack Hawkins, and Sir Alec Guinness.

Guinness won an Oscar for his portrayal of the delusional Colonel Nicholson, a British officer determined to exemplify the Army's professional reputation and fighting spirit even if that means colluding with their Japanese captors. An Allied commando unit made up of British and American personnel is thusly dispatched to halt the bridge's construction, inevitably bringing them into conflict with Nicholson, who only realises his mistake when it is much too late.

The moment where Nicholson snaps out of his delusions makes for one of the finest scenes in Lean's filmography, and in Guinness' career as an actor. In a flash, as he reacts with protest to his comrades attempting to destroy the bridge, the scale of what has transpired drowns Nicholson in regret. "What have I done?". A crack of gunfire. A twisted monument destroyed by its mournful creator. Truly masterful filmmaking.

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WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well. In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.