The_Omnissiah
The God of All Machines
I've been watching a lot of quality war movies lately and figured I'd throw a thread up so people with suggestions or looking for good movies can come check it out!
I picked war movies specifically to have a clear theme and not cause an endless list of every movie imaginable
Cross of Iron and All Quiet On the Western Front are both really good anti-war war movies (and the two films I watched on Sunday that inspired this thread). The former being about a Prussian officer who comes to the eastern front to win the Iron Cross, and his interactions with a gritty sergeant and his band of German 'Kelly's Heroes' type squadmates who has already won the Iron Cross - and lost all illusions as to what war is. The latter is a seminal WW1 movie filmed in the 1930s. Black & white (and originally a silent film), it documents a class of friends who all enlist at the behest of their patriotic professor and slowly have their ideological bases dismantled by the brutality of war and loss of friends.
Rambo: First Blood is another good movie. Well filmed and despite the pro-Viet Nam stance of Stallone, gives a vivid (albeit fantastical) view of PTSD and the societal rejection of Viet Nam veterans.
Intimate Enemies is a film about the French in Algeria and how a soldier with noble ideas slowly realizes the genocidal effect of colonialism that is being enacted through himself and the other soldiers. He is dismayed to find out that those in command have deemed it necessary and won't listen to his appeals to humanity.
Enemy At The Gates is a film about the siege of Stalingrad during WW2, from the point of view of both the Russian defenders and their champion sniper, and the Germans and a veteran sniper they bring in to eliminate him. With excellent cinematography showing the devastation of Stalingrad, the movie also shows the war through the eyes of a snipers, which not too many other films do.
The Red Baron is a German film produced in English documenting the rise to fame of Baron von Richtofen - the Red Baron. The film examines the airmen's views of combat: with many noble holdovers and notions of honour in war being present. This is contrasted by the brutality of warfare on the ground. These two opposing views come closer and closer together and clash within the characters in the film. With most of the characters being real historical people, the film does a good job of examining that time period and the people that inhabited it.
Flame & Citron is a Danish movie about two Danish resistance fighters who do what is necessary to combat the occupation of their country. Assassinating Danish collaborators and Nazis, destroying infrastructure, and disrupting Nazi rule, these two show the vicious nature of guerilla resistance during the second world war.
Patton. This seminal film about the famous (or infamous) U.S. General Patton follows his career throughout WW2. His belligerent and gung-ho attitude earned him as many allies as enemies. His strange (to say the least) views on destiny and other things put him apart from his time. With such quotables as "Rommel you magnificent bastard, I read your book!", it is a must see for any fans of war - especially WW2 - films.
Das Boot is a German language film about a U-boat crew during the second world war and the ignoble job they are tasked with. A gritty and realistic portrayal of life as a kriegsmarine with no ideological fanaticism, this film does a good job of showing one of the branches of the German military with the highest attrition rate.
The Longest Day is a film about the D-Day invasion and the time preceding and immediately following it. Showing that tense period through the eyes of Generals, civilians, and grunts, the film helps give watchers a sense of the magnitude of the undertaking that was the Normandy invasion.
We Were Soldiers is a film about the first combat use of US air cavalry in Viet Nam and the logistical, and emotional struggles involved. Showing both the combat side of things and the civilian repercussion (with mention of the racism of the times) the film does a good job of capturing those early days in Viet Nam when the U.S. assumed invincibility.
Emperor documents the end of WW2 as the U.S. manoeuvres carefully in its administration of Japan to prevent all out civilian rebellion. You can cut the tension with a knife as General MacArthur eventually meets the Emperor personally.
My Way is an incredible, nigh on unbelievable film about two young runners, Korean and Japanese, whose lives become intertwined during Japanese occupation of Korea. Their lives continue as the Korean is drafted into the Imperial Army under the eventual command of the Japanese. Their animosity slowly turns into friendship as their military misadventures take them from fighting the Russians, to fighting for the Russians against the Germans, to fighting for the Germans and being stationed in Normandy, only to then experience D-Day. Excellent cinematography and acting, and most incredibly, it is based on a true story!
Black Hawk Down presents an all-star cast representing U.S. military personnel during the Mogadishu crisis in Somalia. A brutal film, it gives a good representation of the isolation, stress, and vivid destruction involved in modern city fighting.
Into The White is a film about two air crews, one British, the other German, having been shot down over Norway. Stumbling upon each other at a mountain cabin, a tense truce is declared as power changes hands back and forth throughout their trials in the dead of winter. Eventually they come to see each other not as enemies, but as fellow humans, each with a background and story to tell, and you get to see many sides of humanity in that small Norwegian cabin.
Those are just a bunch of excellent films I've seen before that I could think of off the top of my head. Feel free to contribute by giving your own reviews and/or suggestions!
-Omni
I picked war movies specifically to have a clear theme and not cause an endless list of every movie imaginable
Cross of Iron and All Quiet On the Western Front are both really good anti-war war movies (and the two films I watched on Sunday that inspired this thread). The former being about a Prussian officer who comes to the eastern front to win the Iron Cross, and his interactions with a gritty sergeant and his band of German 'Kelly's Heroes' type squadmates who has already won the Iron Cross - and lost all illusions as to what war is. The latter is a seminal WW1 movie filmed in the 1930s. Black & white (and originally a silent film), it documents a class of friends who all enlist at the behest of their patriotic professor and slowly have their ideological bases dismantled by the brutality of war and loss of friends.
Rambo: First Blood is another good movie. Well filmed and despite the pro-Viet Nam stance of Stallone, gives a vivid (albeit fantastical) view of PTSD and the societal rejection of Viet Nam veterans.
Intimate Enemies is a film about the French in Algeria and how a soldier with noble ideas slowly realizes the genocidal effect of colonialism that is being enacted through himself and the other soldiers. He is dismayed to find out that those in command have deemed it necessary and won't listen to his appeals to humanity.
Enemy At The Gates is a film about the siege of Stalingrad during WW2, from the point of view of both the Russian defenders and their champion sniper, and the Germans and a veteran sniper they bring in to eliminate him. With excellent cinematography showing the devastation of Stalingrad, the movie also shows the war through the eyes of a snipers, which not too many other films do.
The Red Baron is a German film produced in English documenting the rise to fame of Baron von Richtofen - the Red Baron. The film examines the airmen's views of combat: with many noble holdovers and notions of honour in war being present. This is contrasted by the brutality of warfare on the ground. These two opposing views come closer and closer together and clash within the characters in the film. With most of the characters being real historical people, the film does a good job of examining that time period and the people that inhabited it.
Flame & Citron is a Danish movie about two Danish resistance fighters who do what is necessary to combat the occupation of their country. Assassinating Danish collaborators and Nazis, destroying infrastructure, and disrupting Nazi rule, these two show the vicious nature of guerilla resistance during the second world war.
Patton. This seminal film about the famous (or infamous) U.S. General Patton follows his career throughout WW2. His belligerent and gung-ho attitude earned him as many allies as enemies. His strange (to say the least) views on destiny and other things put him apart from his time. With such quotables as "Rommel you magnificent bastard, I read your book!", it is a must see for any fans of war - especially WW2 - films.
Das Boot is a German language film about a U-boat crew during the second world war and the ignoble job they are tasked with. A gritty and realistic portrayal of life as a kriegsmarine with no ideological fanaticism, this film does a good job of showing one of the branches of the German military with the highest attrition rate.
The Longest Day is a film about the D-Day invasion and the time preceding and immediately following it. Showing that tense period through the eyes of Generals, civilians, and grunts, the film helps give watchers a sense of the magnitude of the undertaking that was the Normandy invasion.
We Were Soldiers is a film about the first combat use of US air cavalry in Viet Nam and the logistical, and emotional struggles involved. Showing both the combat side of things and the civilian repercussion (with mention of the racism of the times) the film does a good job of capturing those early days in Viet Nam when the U.S. assumed invincibility.
Emperor documents the end of WW2 as the U.S. manoeuvres carefully in its administration of Japan to prevent all out civilian rebellion. You can cut the tension with a knife as General MacArthur eventually meets the Emperor personally.
My Way is an incredible, nigh on unbelievable film about two young runners, Korean and Japanese, whose lives become intertwined during Japanese occupation of Korea. Their lives continue as the Korean is drafted into the Imperial Army under the eventual command of the Japanese. Their animosity slowly turns into friendship as their military misadventures take them from fighting the Russians, to fighting for the Russians against the Germans, to fighting for the Germans and being stationed in Normandy, only to then experience D-Day. Excellent cinematography and acting, and most incredibly, it is based on a true story!
Black Hawk Down presents an all-star cast representing U.S. military personnel during the Mogadishu crisis in Somalia. A brutal film, it gives a good representation of the isolation, stress, and vivid destruction involved in modern city fighting.
Into The White is a film about two air crews, one British, the other German, having been shot down over Norway. Stumbling upon each other at a mountain cabin, a tense truce is declared as power changes hands back and forth throughout their trials in the dead of winter. Eventually they come to see each other not as enemies, but as fellow humans, each with a background and story to tell, and you get to see many sides of humanity in that small Norwegian cabin.
Those are just a bunch of excellent films I've seen before that I could think of off the top of my head. Feel free to contribute by giving your own reviews and/or suggestions!
-Omni
