After seven years, the American Film Institute's list of the Top 100 American films still remains unconquered by me. So during this relatively slow season of new film releases I am catching up, having rented and experienced the following six brilliant films in the past two weeks.

The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) -- No. 13

"One day the war will be over. And I hope that the people that use this bridge in years to come will remember how it was built and who built it. Not a gang of slaves, but soldiers, British soldiers, Clipton, even in captivity." In a commentary on the futility of war, David Lean directed this film about British POWs in Burma during the Second World War and the bridge they build. Alec Guinness won the Best Actor Oscar for portraying Colonel Nicholson, the British colonial officer whose immediate dedication to his men and to British army ideals almost blinds him to his responsibility as a soldier at war. In his final seconds, Nicholson recognizes his error and destroys the enemy bridge in which he has invested the entire self-worth of his men.