David Lean - The Bridge on the River Kwai (x-post amazon)

This movie manages to be light-hearted and serious-minded in about an as perfect manner as i have ever witnessed in the movies. Whilst dealing with the gruesome backdrop of life in a japanese internment camp during world war 2 it manages to both portray the horrors and create a feeling of jovial fun to be had. This is kind of weird, but works quite well. Basically, the set up is a variant on the theme of necessary order, and how to maintain it in an adverse environment. The movie gets this point across quite well, whilst it also makes what this order is focused on something that is genuinely bad for the people the constructors purport to represent. This juxtaposition is well thought out, and the hopelessness in the choice between staunch opposition and collaboration is handled seriously, yet with a light and humorous hand. Never is there a scene that is too serious for an off hand humorous remark, and the movie is made much better by it. If this theme were to be presented without the humour, the movie would have been a bleak, bleak show.