The Thin Red Line
There is something incredibly fascinating about war movies and over the years the Second World War and Vietnam have been brought to the silver screen.
However this genre has taken a knock in recent years as movies on the war on terror have flooded out of movie studios, usually to little interest and poor reviews.
But that looks set to change this week with the release of The Hurt Locker, which has already gained critical acclaim, and it looks like it might turn into a modern classic.
So FemaleFirst takes a look at some of the best war movies that have graced the big screen.
- Platoon
Director Oliver Stone draws on his harrowing experiences in Vietnam as he wrote and directed this insight into brutality of guerrilla warfare in the heat of the jungle.
Platoon is an unsympathetic film it doesn't gloss over the troubles in Vietnam to suit and American cinema going audience.
Stone depicts some soldiers as violent killers who struggle with seeing their friends injured and killed and take out their rage on a nearby village.
The village scene is perhaps one of the most harrowing of the entire film as American soldiers, struggling with their anger, kill, torture and rape Vietnamese villagers.
Stone also showed controversial issues within the U.S. army such as drug abuse, which has largely been speculated upon in recent years, the bullying behaviour by more experienced soldiers on the new, inexperienced recruits and the killing of unpopular officers.
The movie went on to win Best Picture at the Oscars.
- The Thin Red Line
A World War II tale which focuses on a squad of American troops battling against the Japanese during the hellish battle of Guadalcanal Island.
While the film does feature many battle scenes that you would expect to find in any war movie there is something profoundly different about The Thin Red Line that does set it apart from other movies in the genre.
There is a great philosophical aspect that hangs over the whole film as the characters question reasons behind the war and in particular life, as they potentially walk so close to death, leaving many issues unresolved when the credits role, much like life itself.
Malick's main theme behind the movie was to delve into the experience and psyche of soldiers at war looking at how they cope, or not, with what they see and how they band together under the most testing circumstances.
It is a very impressionistic view of war, that may not be the taste of many, as Malick delivers a truly beautiful movie that likens war to the harshness of nature using his beautiful surroundings to bring home his point, and only maverick director Malick could have shot a war movie in this way and got away with it.
The film was nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars.
- Saving Private Ryan
Set during the Invasion of Normandy the opening scenes, set on Omaha beach, are considered some of the most powerful war images ever committed to film in this genre as well as bringing together an impressive cast of Tom Hanks, Tom Sizemore, Barry Pepper and Matt Damon.
Spielberg, like in Schindler's list, is unafraid to show the pain and horror of war and the scenes on Omaha Beach really are some of the most harrowing images of war and really grab the attention, and to a certain extent the imagination, of the audience and really pack an emotional punch.
And despite being from an American perspective Saving Private Ryan doesn't, at any point, spout patriotism America won the war he instead shows that every man and every country played their part in defeating the enemy and the price that so many paid.
It was nominated for a Best Picture Oscar and amazingly lost out to Shakespeare in Love.
- Grave of the Fireflies
Over twenty years Studio Ghibli has been producing high quality animation movies that have enjoyed success all over the world but especially in Japan and was written and directed by Isao Takahata.
The story is based on the semi-autobiographic novel by the same name, whose author, Nosaka, lost his sister due to malnutrition in 1945 wartime Japan.
Grave of the Fireflies is perhaps the most famous of Studio Ghibli's movies and was directed by Isao Takahata.
While Miyazaki is famed for his depiction of war no Ghibli movie has tackled this issue with the graphic and emotional depth that Grave of the Fireflies looked at the negative consequences of war on society.
But what is so interesting about this movie is you never actually see a battle or an army, despite war being the enemy of the film, instead focusing on the effects on the countryside, which is far removed from the front line, showing the impact the war has on the ordinary person.
It's powerful message and imagery has most this movie away from merely being a cartoon but it is now considered an anti-war picture as well as one of the best war pictures to have ever been made.
- Apocalypse Now
The film was loosely based on Heart Of Darkness by Joseph Conrad and followed Captain Willard (Martin Sheen), a special agent sent into Cambodia to assassinate an errant American colonel (Marlon Brando).
Upon release the film was met by mixed reviews but it went on to be nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars however it did win the Cannes Film Festival's Palme d'Or and is now considered a classic.
- Casablanca
It’s been almost seventy years since Casablanca graced cinema screens for the very first time and still the magic that surrounds this picture hasn’t diminished.
Released in 1942 this romantic epic starred Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman and went on to win Best Picture at the Academy Awards.
World War II Morocco springs to life in Michael Curtiz’s classic love story. Colourful characters abound in Casablanca, a waiting room for Europeans trying to escape Hitler's war-torn Europe.
But with the help of Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman who created some of romantic cinemas brightest sparks as Casablanca became one of the greatest movies of all time.
It’s one of those very rare movies where every moment, every character and every line of dialogue matters, there really are no dead patches in this movie as it is filled with charm, wit and nostalgia.
But it’s not just the romantic aspect of the movie that makes it so popular it is also a war movie and a fight against the suppressive Nazi regime. Rick's Café is the point of intersection, the espionage centre, the background for Allied offensive, and the focal point as refugees from Nazi-occupied Europe.
From a script that wasn’t expected to do any better than any other Hollywood movie being released at the time the superb cast telling a story of love during a time of war has made Casablanca a timeless piece of cinema.
- Schindler's List
Over the years Spielberg has brought us movies about aliens and sharks but Schindler's List is possibly the most frightening movie that he has ever made as he delivers a movie that shows the brutality of the Nazi regime.
Despite being most famous for his blockbuster, big budget movies the director once again, after Empire of the Sun, has shown that he can handle controversial subjects with sophistication as well as sensitivity as he proves that he knew the line he was walking with such a delicate topic.
What is perhaps so interesting and troubling about this film is it's not about life during warfare it doesn't look at the experiences of soldiers on the front line but instead shows the impact that war had on the lives of so many people.
And the director doesn't shy away from the truth shot predominately in black and white the whole tone of the film oozes brutality and cruelty which, at times, is difficult to watch and is devastatingly emotional.
Schindler's List, which was a critical and commercial hit, was nominated for seven Academy Awards, including Best Actor for Neeson, went on to win Best Picture and Best Director for Spielberg.
Other fabulous pieces of war cinema include The Killing Fields, The Bridge Over the River Kwai, The Great Escape, Full Metal Jacket and Dambusters.
The Hurt Locker is released 28th August
Helen Earnshaw
There is something incredibly fascinating about war movies and over the years the Second World War and Vietnam have been brought to the silver screen.
However this genre has taken a knock in recent years as movies on the war on terror have flooded out of movie studios, usually to little interest and poor reviews.
But that looks set to change this week with the release of The Hurt Locker, which has already gained critical acclaim, and it looks like it might turn into a modern classic.
So FemaleFirst takes a look at some of the best war movies that have graced the big screen.
- Platoon
Director Oliver Stone draws on his harrowing experiences in Vietnam as he wrote and directed this insight into brutality of guerrilla warfare in the heat of the jungle.
Platoon is an unsympathetic film it doesn't gloss over the troubles in Vietnam to suit and American cinema going audience.
Stone depicts some soldiers as violent killers who struggle with seeing their friends injured and killed and take out their rage on a nearby village.
The village scene is perhaps one of the most harrowing of the entire film as American soldiers, struggling with their anger, kill, torture and rape Vietnamese villagers.
Stone also showed controversial issues within the U.S. army such as drug abuse, which has largely been speculated upon in recent years, the bullying behaviour by more experienced soldiers on the new, inexperienced recruits and the killing of unpopular officers.
The movie went on to win Best Picture at the Oscars.
- The Thin Red Line
A World War II tale which focuses on a squad of American troops battling against the Japanese during the hellish battle of Guadalcanal Island.
While the film does feature many battle scenes that you would expect to find in any war movie there is something profoundly different about The Thin Red Line that does set it apart from other movies in the genre.
There is a great philosophical aspect that hangs over the whole film as the characters question reasons behind the war and in particular life, as they potentially walk so close to death, leaving many issues unresolved when the credits role, much like life itself.
Malick's main theme behind the movie was to delve into the experience and psyche of soldiers at war looking at how they cope, or not, with what they see and how they band together under the most testing circumstances.
It is a very impressionistic view of war, that may not be the taste of many, as Malick delivers a truly beautiful movie that likens war to the harshness of nature using his beautiful surroundings to bring home his point, and only maverick director Malick could have shot a war movie in this way and got away with it.
The film was nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars.
- Saving Private Ryan
Set during the Invasion of Normandy the opening scenes, set on Omaha beach, are considered some of the most powerful war images ever committed to film in this genre as well as bringing together an impressive cast of Tom Hanks, Tom Sizemore, Barry Pepper and Matt Damon.
Spielberg, like in Schindler's list, is unafraid to show the pain and horror of war and the scenes on Omaha Beach really are some of the most harrowing images of war and really grab the attention, and to a certain extent the imagination, of the audience and really pack an emotional punch.
And despite being from an American perspective Saving Private Ryan doesn't, at any point, spout patriotism America won the war he instead shows that every man and every country played their part in defeating the enemy and the price that so many paid.
It was nominated for a Best Picture Oscar and amazingly lost out to Shakespeare in Love.
- Grave of the Fireflies
Over twenty years Studio Ghibli has been producing high quality animation movies that have enjoyed success all over the world but especially in Japan and was written and directed by Isao Takahata.
The story is based on the semi-autobiographic novel by the same name, whose author, Nosaka, lost his sister due to malnutrition in 1945 wartime Japan.