Acting

 

This clip isn't from a film, but from Andor, the most recent Star Wars Disney+ show, and this is just one of a few great monologues in this show. I highly recommend Andor if anyone reading is a Star Wars fan, it doesn't have the flashy lightsabers or the force but it is very well written and provided new dimension to the Star Wars universe. In it, Stellan Skarsgard plays a character who is one of the masterminds of the start of the rebellion. He is constantly playing high stakes chess against the empire, and pulling strings from behind the scenes in order to provide enough spark in the galaxy to hopefully start a fire. In this clip, an informant of his questions his resolve, and he puts any doubts to rest quickly.

His emotion in this scene is spot-on for his character, someone who has been fighting this war for many years unnoticed. Someone who knows he will never be recognized as a hero, because of the morally grey things he has to do to create even the possibility of a future. His tone starts off as almost jaded and desensitized, you can tell he has contemplated his life many times previously but somehow always arrives to one conclusion. He must keep going. He must author the first few chapters of a book that he knows will be credited to someone else, because if he doesn't, then the book will never be written. 

You can see his tone evolve into passion and drive. His voice gets louder, his face contorts more in his delivery. It's a naturalistic portrayal of an unnatural character, he is in a position that the large majority of people will never be but his performance is totally believable. Stellan cements his character as one of the Star Wars greats, after 12 episodes of a TV show that has lower viewership than most of the Star Wars projects before it, through his performance throughout the show. The rest of the cast also perform excellently and I think it is some of the best acting I've seen in a while.