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Nov 4, 2016 · Hacksaw Ridge, this weekend’s new and poignant World War II film from director Mel Gibson, has been a long time coming. More than 70 years since those hellish days on the island of Okinawa, the...
In this in-depth episode I offer a brief history of war movies and anti-war movies, and how the Pentagon’s policy on supporting films depicting war seems to have changed over time. I highlight some of my favourite anti-war movies, along with the most anti-war films the DOD has supported.
- Black Book (2006) Director: Paul Verhoeven. Paul Verhoeven’s predictably provocative evocation of the Nazi-occupied Netherlands may appear at first glance to be little more than a salacious pot-boiler, but beneath its lurid surface lurks a multifaceted exploration of war’s debilitating and dehumanising effects.
- Letters from Iwo Jima (2006) Director: Clint Eastwood. In a recent Guardian article entitled ‘In the line of dire: let’s call time on Clint Eastwood’s macho movies’, the grizzled Hollywood veteran stands accused of repeatedly trotting out the same old “story of stoic, white, militaristic American masculinity saving the day”.
- Waltz with Bashir (2008) Director: Ari Folman. While many modern filmmakers rail against the notion of war as a noble pursuit by striving for harrowing gritty realism, Israeli documentarian Ari Folman swam against the tide in singular fashion when it came to tackling his own experiences as a soldier in the 1982 Lebanon war.
- The Hurt Locker (2008) Director: Kathryn Bigelow. The only war film this century to be crowned best picture at the Oscars is also the only film made by a woman to ever win the Academy’s top accolade.
- Liam Gaughan
- The Deer Hunter. "The Deer Hunter" tells a comprehensive story about what soldiers experience before, during, and after their service in Vietnam, conveyed through the changing relationships between a group of lifelong friends.
- Inglourious Basterds. If there's one thing Quentin Tarantino can't seem to get enough of lately, it's revisionist history. His take on World War II, "Inglourious Basterds," features a ragtag group of American soldiers who go behind enemy lines and take on the massive project of not raining terror down on German soldiers, but assassinating Hitler himself.
- Patton. "Patton" deserves a spot on this list for its opening sequence alone. You know the one: George C. Scott, playing the legendary general, gives a no-holds-barred motivational speech to the troops against a backdrop of a gigantic American flag.
- Lawrence of Arabia. With wide, expansive shots of pristine desert that stretches as far as the eye can see, "Lawrence of Arabia" is a blockbuster in every sense of the word.
Apr 21, 2020 · War movies are an enduring genre, making hundreds of millions at the box office. With Anzac Day approaching, we ask: does Hollywood go too far in obscuring the true horrors of battle?
- Benjamin Nickl
May 31, 2011 · A large number of war films -- more than a dozen, sometimes two-dozen -- were released annually until the war's end, almost all of which glamorized and romanticized the battle against the Axis...
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Mar 24, 2023 · Redacted brought war movies into the twenty-first century with a style that made war’s horrors all the more palpably real. War movies have evolved as much as real-life conflict over the years, with radical cinematic efforts ensuring the horrors of war can be captured anew.
