Restrepo
This week sees Restrepo hits the big screen, a movie which shows the reality of war. Directed by Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger the movie is an insight into the surreal combination of back breaking labour, deadly firefights, and camaraderie as the soldiers painfully push back the Taliban.
Over the years the war movie has enjoyed major success at the box office and remains popular with film fans. So to celebrate the release of Restrepo we take a look at some of the best movies in this genre.
- The Hurt Locker
Now I know that The Hurt Locker was only released last year but it wasn't just the best film of last year, yep it topped Avatar for me, but it's one of the best war movies of all time.
What makes this movie so powerful is the absence of politics at no point, like in so many movies that have gone before, does filmmaker Bigelow question the reasons why the war is taking part or the death toll and this comes as a refreshing change.
The Iraqis are not painted as the enemy, the movie doesn’t show the stress and strain put on American soldiers, the American’s are not painted as heroes or the bringer of liberation from a cruel regime instead the movie just follows the lives and work of the soldiers as they count down the days until they can go home.
Instead the movie is the personal perspective of James, Sanborn and Eldridge as they face the horrors of modern warfare mixed with the adrenaline buzz of there task in Iraq.
The movie is directed by Oscar winner Kathryn Bigelow and the movie went on to pick up a Best Picture Oscar.
- 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 and torture Vietnamese villagers.
The movie went on to scoop Best Picture at the Oscars in 1986 and remains one of the best movies in this genre as Stone brought together a great cast of Charlie Sheen, Willem Defoe and Tom Berenger.
- 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.
Once again big named stars flocked to the film as Sean Penn, James Caviezel, Nick Nolte, Adrien Brody, John Cusack, John C. Reilly, Ben Chaplin, Woody Harrelson and Elias Koteas all starred, George Clooney and John Travolta had cameo roles.
The Thin red Line was nominated for a Best Picture Oscar in 1998, hard to believe that it lost out to Shakespeare In Love.
- 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.
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.
Tom Hanks led an all star cast of Edward Burns, Matt Damon, Tom Sizemore, Vin Diesel, Giovanni Ribisi, Barry Pepper for this great cinematic event.
Alongside The Thin Red Line this movie bagged a Best Picture Oscar nomination, and yes it amazingly lost out!
- Grave of the Fireflies
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.
Other war movies that you should catch include Apocalypse Now and Schindler's List and you really should catch TV series Band of Brothers, The Pacific and Generation Kill.
Restrepo is released 8th October.
FemaelFirst Helen Earnshaw