current wars | vietnam | korea | wwii | wwi | civil war

 
We've learned to speak and think in the epistemology of television, which is one essentially filled with thought-terminating cliches. Television is really anti-thought and anti-self-reflection. This is what a consumer society is all about. It is about achieving this distorted notion of happiness and personal contentment, which, of course, you can never reach. That is what consumer societies are built upon. There is a kind of war against self-reflection, self-criticism and real introspection. We live in a society that regularly confuses our emotional response with knowledge.

(Hedges, I Don't Believe in Atheists Interview)

Movies on Current Wars

Movies from

2008|2007|2006|2005|2004|2003 & prior

2008

CSNY Deja Vu (2008) 96min USA Directed by Neil Young
The war in Iraq is the backdrop as the Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young "Freedom of Speech Tour" crisscrosses North America. The film examines the band's connection to its audience in both political and musical terms, and examines the relationship between Vietnam-era anti-war sentiment and today's post-9/11 environment. A Vietnam War veteran sums it all up: "It's deja vu all over again." (film site)

 

The Lucky Ones (2008) USA Directed by Neil Burger
Release: September 28. Stars: Michael Pena, Rachel McAdams, Tim Robbins
After suffering an injury during a routine patrol, hardened sergeant TK Poole is granted aone-month leave to visit his fiance. But when an unexpected blackout cancels all flights out of New York, TK agrees to share a ride to Pittsburgh with two similarly stranded servicemen: Cheever, an older family man who longs to return to his wife in St. Louis, and Colee, a naive private who's pinned her hopes on connecting with a dead fellow soldier's family. What begins as a short trip unexpectedly evolves into a longer journey. Forced to grapple with old relationships, broken hopes and a country divided over the war, TK, Cheever and Colee discover that home is not quite what they remembered, and that the unlikely companionship they've found might be what matters the most. (imdb)

Standard Operating Procedure (2008) USA 116 min Directed by Erroll Morris
Is it possible for a photograph to change the world? Photographs taken by soldiers in Abu Ghraib prison changed the war in Iraq and changed Americas image of itself. Yet, a central mystery remains. Did the notorious Abu Ghraib photographs constitute evidence of systematic abuse by the American military, or were they documenting the aberrant behavior of a few bad apples? We set out to examine the context of these photographs. Why were they taken? What was happening outside the frame? We talked directly to the soldiers who took the photographs and who were in the photographs. Who are these people? What were they thinking? Over two years of investigation, we amassed a million and a half words of interview transcript, thousands of pages of unredacted reports, and hundreds of photographs. The story of Abu Ghraib is still shrouded in moral ambiguity, but it is clear what happened there. The Abu Ghraib photographs serve as both an expose and a coverup. An expose, because the photographs offer us a glimpse of the horror of Abu Ghraib; and a coverup because they convinced journalists and readers they had seen everything, that there was no need to look further. In recent news reports, we have learned about the destruction of the Abu Zubaydah interrogation tapes. A coverup. It has been front page news. But the coverup at Abu Ghraib involved thousands of prisoners and hundreds of soldiers. (imdb)

Stop-Loss (2008) 112min USA Directed by Kimberly Peirce
Decorated Iraq war hero Sgt. Brandon King makes a celebrated return to his small Texas hometown following his tour of duty. He tries to resume the life he left behind. Then, against Brandon's will, the Army orders him back to duty in Iraq, which upends his world. The conflict tests everything he believes in: the bond of family, the loyalty of friendship, the limits of love and the value of honor. (Paramount Pictures)

 

War, Inc (2008) USA Directed by Joshua Seftal. Stars Dan Aykroyd, John Cusack, Joan Cusack, Hilary Duff, Ben Kingsley, Marisa Tomei. Release: DVD October 14, 2008
A political satire set in Turaqistan, a country occupied by an American private corporation run by a former US Vice-President (Aykroyd). In an effort to monopolize the opportunities the war-torn nation offers, the corporation's CEO hires a troubled hit man (Cusack), to kill a Middle East oil minister. Now, struggling with his own growing demons, the assassin must pose as the corporation's Trade Show Producer in order to pull off this latest hit, while maintaining his cover by organizing the high-profile wedding of Yonica Babyyeah (Duff) an outrageous Middle Eastern pop star, and keeping a sexy left wing reporter (Tomei) in check. (imdb)

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2007

Across the Universe (2007) 133min USA Directed by Julie Taymor
An original musical film, Across The Universe is a fictional love story set in the 1960s amid the turbulent years of anti-war protest, the struggle for free speech and civil rights, mind exploration and rock and roll. At once gritty, whimsical and highly theatrical, the story moves from high schools and universities in Massachusetts, Princeton and Ohio to the Lower East Side of Manhattan, the Detroit riots, Vietnam and the dockyards of Liverpool. A combination of live action and animation, the film is paired with many songs by The Beatles that defined the time. (imdb)

Badland (2007) 160min USA Directed by Francesco Lucente
An American soldier is unable to cope with the realities of daily life after he returns from his tour of duty in Iraq. Inspired by actual events. (imdb)
U.S. soldier back from Afghanistan and Iraq, devastated by war and misunderstood by his family, turns violent. The critics are yet to weigh in, but a commenter on IMDB calls the movie "stunning" and "powerful." The movie's Web site says it's "a gut-wrenching, poignant look at the aftermath of war." (Salon.com)


Body of War (2007) Directed by Phil Donahue and Ellen Spiro
Body of War is a documentary following Tomas Young, an Iraq War veteran paralyzed from a bullet to the spine, on a physical and emotional journey as he adapts to his new body and begins to question the decision to go to war in Iraq. From soldier to anti-war activist, the film takes an unflinching view of the physical and emotional aftermath of war through the eyes of an American hero. The film unfolds on two parallel tracks. On the one hand, we see Tomas evolving into a powerful voice against the war as he struggles to deal with the complexities of a paralyzed body. And on the other hand, we see the historic debate unfolding in the Congress about going to war in Iraq. (Ellen Spiro)

 

Charlie Wilson's War (2007) 102min USA Directed by Mike Nichols. Stars Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, Philip Seymour Hoffman
Charlie Wilson's War is the true story of how a playboy congressman, a renegade CIA agent and a beautiful Houston socialite joined forces to lead the largest and most successful covert operation in history. Their efforts contributed to the fall of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War,... Charlie Wilson's War is the true story of how a playboy congressman, a renegade CIA agent and a beautiful Houston socialite joined forces to lead the largest and most successful covert operation in history. Their efforts contributed to the fall of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, with consequences that reverberate throughout the world today. (Rotten Tomatoes)

Grace is Gone (2007) USA 85 minutes Directed by James C. Strouse. Stars John Cusack.
There was a time when Stanley Phillips could see his entire life clearly. He dreamed of patriotic service and was destined for a military career. He came close to that dream until it was cut short simply because of his poor eyesight. Now he's serving customers at a home supply store while his Sergeant wife is fighting in Iraq. Equally as awkward at home as he is at work, he's raising Heidi, their twelve-year-old daughter and her 8-year-old sister Dawn. Although a loving father, Stanley is unable to conform to a more affectionate role and the girls miss their mother deeply. While tolerating his job and stumbling through parenting he is abruptly awakened when tragedy strikes. Ill prepared to deal with it himself, he is at a complete loss contemplating how to tell his children. Desperate to delay telling the children they embark on a spontaneous road trip. Grasping to give them their last moments of innocence, Stanley reveals a softer side as they travel to Dawn's chosen destination - Enchanted Gardens Theme Park. The farther they drive the closer they become yet Stanley knows he must face the inevitable task of changing their lives forever. (film site)

In The Valley of Elah (2007) 121min USA Directed by Paul Haggins
When Hank Deerfield is told by the military that his son Mike, who only recently returned from a tour of duty in Iraq, has gone AWOL he travels to the military base to see if he can make any sense of the young man's disappearance. Hank is himself a retired military investigator and is frustrated by both the military and the civilian police's apparent lack of interest in the case. (imdb)

 

The Kingdom (2007) 110min SA Directed by Peter Berg
After a terrorist attack to an American housing compound in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where families and the spy Francis Manner are murdered, FBI agent Ronald Fleury blackmails the South Arabian consul to get five days of investigation in the location. He travels with agent Grant Sykes, Janet Mayes and Adam Leavitt to revenge their friend and try to find the responsible for the bombing. The agents find all sorts of difficulties in their investigation, but they are supported by Colonel Faris Al Ghazi that advises the team how to act in a hostile environment. (imdb) The film is fictional, but inspired by bombings at the Riyadh compound on May 12, 2003 and the Khobar housing complex on June 26, 1996 in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The story follows a team of FBI agents who investigate the bombing of a foreign-workers facility. (Wikipedia)

Lions for Lambs (2007) 92min USA Directed by Robert Redford
Career Politicians, the Fourth Estate and Disaffected Youth all earn a stern knuckle rapping in "Lions for Lambs," Robert Redford's big-screen lecture about civic responsibility and its absence in the Age of Iraq. Those who remain shocked, shocked that elected officials, certain journalists and cosseted college students sat idly by, huffing Hummer fumes and nodding out on 24/7 infotainment (all Britney, all the time), while the administration led the charge, first into Afghanistan and then into Iraq, may find much to embrace here. Everyone else will continue to nod out or resume banging their heads against the wall in bloody frustration. What else do we learn from "Lions for Lambs"? That America is no longer only the land of the free, home of the brave, but also of the opportunistic and the compromised. (Manohla Dargis, The New York Times)

No End in Sight (2007) 102 min Written & Directed by Charles Ferguson
Chronological look at the fiasco in Iraq, especially decisions made in the spring of 2003 - and the backgrounds of those making decisions - immediately following the overthrow of Saddam: no occupation plan, an inadequate team to run the country, insufficient troops to keep order, and three edicts from the White House announced by Bremmer when he took over: no provisional Iraqi government, de-Ba'athification, and disbanding the Iraqi armed services. The film has chapters (from History to Consequences), and the talking heads are reporters, academics, soldiers, military brass, and former Bush-administration officials, including several who were in Baghdad in 2003. (imdb)

Redacted (2007) USA 90min Writed and Directed by Brian de Palma
Premiered at the 2007 Venice Film Festival, where it earned a Silver Lion "best director" award. Based on the Mahmudiyah killings, the gang-rape, murder, and burning of Abeer Qasim Hamza al-Janabi, a 14-year-old Iraqi girl in March 2006 by U.S. soldiers who also killed her parents and her younger sister, the film is a montage of stories about U.S. soldiers fighting in the Iraq conflict, focusing on the modern forms of media covering the war.

 

  • Article: "We have been silent about many crimes but we will not stand rape"
    By Ghaith Abdul-Ahad in Mahmoudiya. The Guardian, Friday October 20, 2006
  • Article: Ex-Soldier Charged in Killing of Iraqi Family: Coverup Is Alleged; Four Others Implicated By Josh White. Washington Post, Tuesday, July 4, 2006
    A former U.S. Army soldier was charged yesterday with the rape and murder of a young Iraqi woman and the slayings of three of her family members in their home south of Baghdad in March, federal prosecutors said. Several soldiers allegedly planned the attack over drinks after noticing the woman near the traffic checkpoint they manned in Mahmudiyah, according to a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky. The soldiers allegedly worked out an elaborate plan to carry out the crime and then cover it up, wearing dark clothes to the home, using an AK-47 assault rifle from the house to kill the family, and allowing authorities to believe that the attack was carried out by insurgents, investigators said.

Rendition (2007) 122min USA Directed by Gavin Hood. Stars Meryl Streep, Alan Arkin, Reese Witherspoon, Jake Gyllenhaal.
Given the tenor of political discussion these days, it is inevitable that someone with a loud voice and a small mind will label "Rendition" anti-American. (But look! A quick Internet search reveals that some people already have, many of them without even bothering to see the movie.) It is, after all, much easier to rant and rave about treacherous Hollywood liberals than to think through the moral and strategic questions raised by some of the policies of the American government. But it is just these questions that "Rendition" tries to address, in a manner that, while hardly neutral -- it may not shock you to learn that the filmmakers come out against torture, kidnapping and other abuses -- nonetheless tries to be evenhanded and thoughtful. "Rendition" may be earnest, but it is hardly naive. Rather, it tries to be thoughtful and respectful of complexity while at the same time honoring the imperatives of commercial entertainment. (A. O. Scott, The New York Times)

War Dance (2007) 105min USA Directed by Sean Fine and Andrea Nix
The documentary focuses on three students in the Patongo refugee camp, Rose, Dominic, and Nancy, as they prepare for their first " Music Competition in which over 20,000 schools will be competing. They tell their story of survival and trauma of the brutally violent effects of the rebellion. Haunting and disturbing, powerful and most important uplifting, this is the finest definition of Courage. (imdb)

 

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2006

The Ground Truth (2006) USA 72 min Written and Directed by Patricia Foulkrod
The filmmaker's subjects are patriotic young Americans - ordinary men and women who heeded the call for military service in Iraq - as they experience recruitment and training, combat, homecoming, and the struggle to reintegrate with families and communities. The terrible conflict in Iraq is a prelude for the even more challenging battles fought by the soldiers returning home - with personal demons, an uncomprehending public, and an indifferent government. As these battles take shape, each soldier becomes a new kind of hero, bearing witness and giving support to other veterans, and learning to fearlessly wield the most powerful weapon of all - the truth. (Focus Features)

Iraq in Fragments (2006) USA 94 min Directed by James Longley
Iraq in Fragments illuminates post-war Iraq in three acts, building a picture of a country pulled in different directions by religion and ethnicity. Filmed in verite style with no scripted narration, the film explores the lives of ordinary Iraqis to illustrate and give background to larger trends in Iraqi society. (James Lomgley)

 

 

Soldier (2006)USA 5 mins Directed by Daniel J. Pico.
David Bianchi, nationally recognized Performance Poet joined forces with award winning Director Daniel J. Pico, to bring you a visually stunning and emotionally charged, one of a kind short film depicting the inner struggle of a soldier suffering from the loss of a fallen comrade at the front lines of the Iraq War. This gripping narrative told entirely in peformance poetry and gaelic verse by Vietnam Veteran Jason Wittman, taps deep into the psyche of a man in the extremest of human conditions. Through hardline images and breath taking perfromace "Soldier" is a harsh and socially relevant awakening ab out the grim realities of loss and war. (film site)

 

The War Tapes (2006) USA 97 min Directed by Deborah Scranton
Straight from the front lines in Iraq, THE WAR TAPES is the first war movie filmed by soldiers themselves. These soldiers bypassed Pentagon supervised media to share their experience like never before. Funnier, spicier, and more gut wrenching than news reports, this is Operation Iraqi Freedom as filmed by Sergeant Steve Pink, Sergeant Zack Bazzi and Specialist Mike Moriarty. Steve is a wisecracking carpenter who aspires to be a writer. Zack is a Lebanese-American university student who loves to travel and is fluent in Arabic. Mike is a father who seeks honor and redemption. Each leaves a woman behind - a girlfriend, a mother and a wife. Through their candid footage, these men open their hearts and take us on an unforgettable journey, capturing camaraderie and humor along with the brutal and terrifying experiences they face. These soldiers got the story that 2,700 embedded reporters never could. (film site) "A film of rare honesty and power that exposes, from the eyes of those who fight the war, the revolting and soul-numbing world of combat." - Chris Hedges

When I Came Home (2006) USA 70 min Directed by Dan Lohaus
Awarded the "NY Loves Film" Best Documentary at the 2006 Tribeca Film Festival, When I Came Home is a documentary film about homeless veterans in America: from those who served in Vietnam to those returning from the current war in Iraq. The film looks at the challenges faced by returning combat veterans and the battle many must fight to receive their benefits from the Veterans Administration. Through the story of Herold Noel, a homeless Iraq war veteran suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and living out of his car in Brooklyn, the film reveals a failing system and the veteran's struggle to survive after returning from the war. When I Came Home follows Herold's battle with homelessness and PTSD as he tries to get help from the VA, city agencies, and various veterans organizations.

With temperatures dropping in New York, Herold meets fellow vet Paul Rieckhoff, founder of the country's largest Iraq veteran advocacy organization. What follows is a media blitz that transforms the young, homeless veteran into the leader of a new movement.

  • NPR: Interview 'When I Came Home': Fighting for Homeless Vets by Madeleine Brand. May 29, 2006
    The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs estimates that as many as 400,000 American military veterans are homeless at least part of the time. And veterans of America's latest wars are adding to those numbers. It's estimated that hundreds of recently returned veterans of the war in Iraq are living on the streets. Herold Noel, an Iraq war veteran who found himself suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder -- and living out of his car in Brooklyn -- is the focal point of Dan Lohaus' documentary When I Came Home.

  • The National Coalition for Homeless Veterans (NCHV) -- a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization governed by a 13-member board of directors -- is the resource and technical assistance center for a national network of community-based service providers and local, state and federal agencies that provide emergency and supportive housing, food, health services, job training and placement assistance, legal aid and case management support for hundreds of thousands of homeless veterans each year. (NOTE: they have a center in Silver Spring! Invite a veteran for Q&A for panel, movie?)

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2005

The Blood of My Brother (2005) USA/Iraq Directed by Andrew Berends
The Blood of My Brother goes behind the scenes of one Iraqi family's struggle to survive amidst the carnage of the growing Shia insurgency. Nineteen-year-old Ibrahim dreams of revenge when his brother is shot and killed by an American patrol. With scenes of fighting and death on the streets of Baghdad, this is the closest most viewers will ever come to being in Iraq; kneeling in prayer amidst a thousand Muslim worshipers, feeling the roar of low-flying Apaches, riding atop a sixty-ton tank, driving with masked resistance fighters to attack American positions, fleeing the threat of an overwhelming response, the blood in the street, a tank on fire, or the cold, distant stare of a dead Iraqi fighter. (Andrew Berends)

Jarhead (2005) USA/Germany 125min Directed by Sam Mendes
Jarhead (the self-imposed moniker of the Marines) follows "Swoff," a third-generation enlistee, from a sobering stint in boot camp to active duty, sporting a sniper's rifle and a hundred-pound ruck on his back through Middle East deserts with no cover from intolerable heat or from Iraqi soldiers, always potentially just over the next horizon. Swoff and his fellow Marines sustain themselves with sardonic humanity and wicked comedy on blazing desert fields in a country they don't understand against an enemy they can't see for a cause they don't fully fathom... Sergeant Sykes is a Marine lifer who heads up Swofford's scout/sniper platoon, while Troy is Swoff's friend and mentor, a die-hard member of STA - their elite Marine Unit. (imdb)

The Liberace of Baghdad (2005) UK Directed by Sean McAllister
Held up in a heavily fortified Baghdad hotel, Iraq's most famous pianist Samir Peter tries to survive the "peace" of post-war Iraq as he waits for his visa that will grant him a new life in America. (imdb)

My Country, My Country (2005) USA/Iraq 90 min Directed by Laura Poitras
Six months in Iraq, culminating in the national election on January 30, 2005. We watch logistic preparations for the election, with UN, US, Australian, and local personnel unsure if the election will be held as scheduled, bracing for violence and for world attention. We also cut back and forth to Dr. Riyadh, a Sunni physician who practices at the Adhamiya Free Clinic and prays at the Abu Hanifa Mosque. He's an Iraqi Islamic Party candidate for the Baghdad Provincial Council; he visits Abu Ghraib prison and speaks out. We meet his wife and daughters: the family is cheerful, ironic, and droll. Will his party participate in the elections? Will he vote? Is his family safe? (from IMDB)

  • My Country, My Country in PBS POV premiered October 25, 2006
    "My Country, My Country" is an unforgettable journey into the heart of war-ravaged Iraq in the months leading up to the January 2005 elections. Symbolized by fingers marked with purple ink, the 2005 elections posed challenges to all sides of the debate about the war.

Why We Fight (2005) 98min USA, France, UK, Canada, Denmark Written and directed by Eugene Jarecki
He may have been the ultimate icon of 1950s conformity and postwar complacency, but Dwight D. Eisenhower was an iconoclast, visionary, and the Cassandra of the New World Order. Upon departing his presidency, Eisenhower issued a stern, cogent warning about the burgeoning "military industrial complex," foretelling with ominous clarity the state of the world in 2004 with its incestuous entanglement of political, corporate, and Defense Department interests. Winner of the Grand Prize Jury Sundance Festival (from IMDB) "It is nowhere written that the American empire goes on forever."

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2004

Brothers (2004) Directed by Jim Sheridan
A young man comforts his older brother's wife and children after he goes missing in Afghanistan. Based on Susanne Bier film (Brødre) Michael has everything under control: a successful military career, a beautiful wife and two daughters. His younger brother Jannik is a drifter, living on the edge of the law. When Michael is sent to Afghanistan on a UN mission the balance between the two brothers changes forever. Michael is missing in action - presumed dead - and Sarah is comforted by Jannik, who against all odds shows himself capable of taking responsibility for both himself and the family. It soon becomes clear that their feelings have developed beyond mutual sympathy. When Michael comes home, traumatized by being held prisoner in the mountains of Afghanistan, nothing is the same... (film site)

Control Room (2004) USA 84min Directed by Jehane Noujaim
A chronicle which provides a rare window into the international perception of the Iraq War, courtesy of Al Jazeera, the Arab world's most popular news outlet. Roundly criticized by Cabinet members and Pentagon officials for reporting with a pro-Iraqi bias, and strongly condemned for frequently airing civilian causalities as well as footage of American POWs, the station has revealed (and continues to show the world) everything about the Iraq War that the Bush administration did not want it to see. (imdb)

 

Gunner Palace (2004) USA 85 min Directed by Petra Eperlein and Michael Tucker
American soldiers of the 2/3 Field Artillery, a group known as the "Gunners," tell of their experiences in Baghdad during the Iraq War. Holed up in a bombed out pleasure palace built by Sadaam Hussein, the soldiers endured hostile situations some four months after President George W. Bush declared the end of major combat operations in the country. (imdb)

 

 

Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004) USA 122 min Directed by Michael Moore
One of the most controversial and provocative films of the year, Fahrenheit 9/11 is Academy Award-winning filmmaker Michael Moore's searing examination of the Bush administration's actions in the wake of the tragic events of 9/11. With his characteristic humor and dogged commitment to uncovering the facts, Moore considers the presidency of George W. Bush and where it has led us. He looks at how - and why - Bush and his inner circle avoided pursuing the Saudi connection to 9/11, despite the fact that 15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudis and Saudi money had funded Al Qaeda. Fahrenheit 9/11 shows us a nation kept in constant fear by FBI alerts and lulled into accepting a piece of legislation, the USA Patriot Act, that infringes on basic civil rights. It is in this atmosphere of confusion, suspicion and dread that the Bush Administration makes its headlong rush towards war in Iraq - and Fahrenheit 9/11 takes us inside that war to tell the stories we haven't heard, illustrating the awful human cost to U.S. soldiers and their families. Lions Gate Films will release the film nationwide on June 25th.

Shake Hands With the Devil: The Journey of Romeo Dallaire (2004) 112min Canada Directed by Roger Spottiswoode
A film adaptation of the Romeo Dallaire autobiography Shake Hands with the Devil. The book details the personal journey of Dallaire through the 1994 Rwandan genocide and how Dallaire's request for more aid went ignored by the United Nations.

 

 

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2003 & prior

GI Jane (1997) 124min Directed by Ridley Scott. Stars Demi Moore, Viggo Mortenson
When a crusading chairperson of the military budget committee pressures the would be Navy secretary to begin full gender integration of the service, he offers the chance for a test case for a female trainee in the elite Navy SEALS commando force. Lt. Jordan O'Neill is given the assignment, but no one expects her to succeed in an inhumanly punishing regime that has a standard 60% dropout rate for men. However, O'Neill is determined to prove everyone wrong. (imdb)


Chronicle of a Genocide Foretold (Chronique D'un Genocide Annonce) (1996) 196min Canada Directed by Daniele Lacourse and Yvan Patry in three parts: 1. Blood Was Flowing Like a River, 2. We Were Cowards 3. We Feel Betrayed.
In April 1994, over 500,000 Rwandan men, women, and children were slaughtered like animals, mostly Tutsis massacred by Hutus in an act of genocide that might have been prevented. In three parts, Chronicle shows the roots of ethnic war in this troubled country where "blood flowed like a river"; how and why the international community, including the United Nations, turned a blind eye on the plight of Rwandan victims; and the revenge Tutsi extremists, now in power, wreak on their Hutu enemies. Through interviews with survivors, UN peacekeepers, Human Rights Watch activists and others, the film paints a vast, moving mural of outrage and horror; never underestimating the enduring power of human hatred, this chronicle still leaves room for justice, even reconciliation.

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Movies on the Vietnam War

The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara (2003) 95min USA Directed by Errol Morris
Robert S. McNamara discusses his experiences and lessons learned during his tenure as Secretary of Defense under John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson. He talks about his work as a bombing statistician during World War II, his brief tenure as president of Ford Motor Company, and the Kennedy administration's triumph during the Cuban Missle Crisis. However, the film focuses primarily on his failures in Vietnam. The theme of the film are his "eleven lessons" learned during this time. Some of these include improving military efficiency, understanding your enemy, and the frustrations of trying to deal with (and unsuccessfully trying to change) human nature.

We Were Soldiers (2002) 138min USA, Germany Directed by Randall Wallace
In a place soon to be known as The Valley of Death, in a small clearing called landing zone X-Ray, Lt. Colonel Hal Moore (Mel Gibson) and 400 young fathers, husbands, brothers, and sons, all troopers from an elite American combat division, were surrounded by 2,000 North Vietnamese soldiers. The ensuing battle was one of the most savage in U.S. history. We Were Soldiers Once...And Young is a tribute to the nobility of those men under fire, their common acts of uncommon valor, and their loyalty to and love for one another. (from IMDB)

 

Forrest Gump (1994) 142min USA Directed by Robert Zemekis
The story follows the life of low I.Q. Forrest Gump and his meeting with the love of his life Jenny. The film chronicles his accidental experiences with some of the most important people and events in America from the late 1950's through the 1970's including a meeting with Elvis Presley, JFK, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, fighting in Vietnam, etc. The problem is, he's too stupid to realize the significance of his actions. Forrest becomes representative of the baby boomer generation having walked through life blindly. (from IMDB)

 

Born on the Fourth of July (1989) 145min USA Directed by Oliver Stone
The second film in Oliver Stone's Vietnam trilogy moves from the brutality of war in Platoon to its equally traumatic aftermath. Based on the memoir of combat veteran Ron Kovic, the film stars Tom Cruise as Kovic, whose gunshot wound in Vietnam left him paralyzed from the chest down. He is deeply embittered by neglect in a veteran's hospital and by the shattering of his patriotic idealism because of the horror and futility of the Vietnam conflict. While painfully and awkwardly adjusting to his disability and a changing definition of masculinity, Kovic joins the burgeoning movement of antiwar protest, culminating in a climactic appearance at the 1976 Democratic national convention. A powerfully intimate portrait that unfolds on an epic scale, Born on the Fourth of July is arguably Stone's best film (if you can forgive its often strident tone), and Cruise's Oscar-nominated role is uncompromising in its depiction of one man's personal anguish and political awakening. (Jeff Shannon, from Amazon.com Review)

Full Metal Jacket (1987) 116min UK, USA Directed by Stanley Kubrick
A two-segment look at the effect of the military mindset and war itself on Vietnam era Marines. The first half follows a group of recruits in basic training under the command of the punishing Sgt. Hartman. The second half shows one of those recruits, Joker, covering the war as a correspondent for Stars and Stripes, focusing on the Tet offensive. (from IMDB)

 

 

Platoon (1986) 120min UK, USA Directed by Oliver Stone
A gritty and emotional look at the lives of a platoon of American soldiers as they patrol, fight and die in the jungles of Vietnam as seen through the perspective of a young recruit. Two veteran sergeants clash when one of them precipitates a massacre of villagers. (from IMDB)

 

 

 

Apocalypse Now (1979) 121min USA Directed by Francis Ford Coppola
Based on Joseph Conrad's Heart Of Darkness, this is a controversial addition to the multitude of Vietnam war movies in existence. Set in 1969 Vietnam, we follow U.S. Special Forces Captain Willard on his mission up a river into Cambodia to assassinate a renegade Green Beret who has set himself up as a God among a local tribe. (from IMDB)

 

Hair (1979) 121min USA Directed by Milos Forman
Hair re-creates a colorful world of counterculture finding an anvil to pound on: the Vietnam War. Forman and his design team allow the film to wash over you, starting at the free-flowing opening in which masses of hippies, police, and even their horses eagerly groove to the familiar beat of "Aquarius." In the best work of his career, Treat Williams makes his leading- man debut as Berger, the leader of the Central Park troop who takes draftee Claude (John Savage) under his wing on his trip through New York City and the apex of what the '60s was. (Dough Thomas, from Amazon.com Review)

The Deer Hunter (1978) 182min UK, USA Directed by Michael Cimino
Winner of five Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director, The Deer Hunter is simultaneously an audacious directorial conceit and one of the greatest films ever made about friendship and the personal impact of war. Like Apocalypse Now, it's hardly a conventional battle film--the soldier's experience was handled with greater authenticity in Platoon--but its depiction of war on an intimate scale packs a devastatingly dramatic punch. Director Michael Cimino may be manipulating our emotions with masterful skill, but he does it in a way that stirs the soul and pinches our collective nerves with graphic, high-intensity scenes of men under life-threatening duress. Although Russian-roulette gambling games were not a common occurrence during the Vietnam war, they're used here as a metaphor for the futility of the war itself. To the viewer, they become unforgettably intense rites of passage for the best friends--Pennsylvania steelworkers played by Robert De Niro, John Savage, and Oscar winner Christopher Walken--who may survive or perish during their tour through a tropical landscape of hell. Back home, their loved ones must cope with the war's domestic impact, and in doing so they allow The Deer Hunter to achieve a rare combination of epic storytelling and intimate, heart-rending drama. (Jeff Shannon, from Amazon.com Review)

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Movies on the Korean War

Taegukgi Hwinalrimyeo (The Brotherhood Of War) (2004) South Korea 140 min. Directed by Je-gu Kang
Korean-language movie. A group of Korean archeologists find a skeleton and identify it as Lee Jin-Seok. But Lee Jin-Seok is still alive and he is now an old man. It is his brother Jin-Tae who went missing in the Korean War. We travel from the present to 1950, when the Korean War started. Jin-Seok and Jin-Tae, Jin-Seok's brother, are young men who suddenly find themselves catapulted into a bloody world so different from their quiet, rural lives. As the war progresses, the war begins to poison Jin-Tae's mind. Jin-Seok is lost when he finds that he no longer knows who his brother is.

(TV mini-series) The Korean War: Fire and Ice (1999)
Produced by the History Channel, Fire and Ice takes the viewer through the four stages of the Korean War, featuring a decorated cast of characters including authors, historians, commanders and colonels, Medal of Honor recipients and the President of the Korean War Veterans Association. The events surrounding the Korean War are told through narration, interviews, commentary and rare black-and-white footage.

 

(TV Series) M*A*S*H (1972) 255 TV episodes of 25min USA Directed by Hy Averback and Jackie Cooper
From June 25, 1950 to July 27, 1953, America waged war with Korea. To tend to the wounded, the government sent the 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital is stuck in the middle of the Korean war. With little help from the circumstances they find themselves in, they are forced to make their own fun. Fond of practical jokes and revenge, the doctors, nurses, administrators, and soldiers often find ways of making wartime life bearable. (from IMDB)

MASH (1970) 116 min. USA Directed by Robert Altman
Though this Robert Altman film (based on the book by Richard Hooker) was noted for addressing the reality of the Vietnam War, it is set during the Korean War. Donald Sutherland, Tom Skerritt, Eliot Gould and Robert Duvall are among the stars. Sally Kellerman was Oscar- nominated as a best supporting actress. The film was also up for best picture and director. Screenwriter Ring Lardner, Jr won for his adaption of the book. The series, of course, spun-off from the film.

 

The Manchurian Candidate (1962) 126min USA Directed by John Frankenheimer
Frank Sinatra and Oscar-nominated Angela Lansbury star in this John Frankenheimer thriller about men brainwashed during their time as POW's in Korea and one man's quest to find out what really happened. Remade against the backdrop of the Gulf War in the early 2000s.



Pork Chop Hill (1959) USA 97 min. Directed by Lewis Milestone
This gritty, grim Korean war drama presents the grueling ordeal of a platoon charged with taking a hill of no military value during the final days of the war. While diplomats and generals argue over peace negotiations (in an appropriately wordless montage under the opening credits), tough but compassionate Lt. Joe Clemons (Gregory Peck) leads a unit of 135 men up a well-guarded hill while miscommunication--and at times no communication--cuts them off from reinforcements and regimental command. Shot against a bleak, battle-scarred mountain of white dust honeycombed with black trenches, director Lewis Milestone presents the devastating battle as a meaningless sacrifice of hundreds of lives spent in a political game of chicken.(from Amazon.com reviews)

The Bridges At Toko-Ri (1955) USA 102 min. Directed by Mark Robson
Directed by Mark Robson (Peyton Place), this movie has some A-listers on the cast: William Holden, Grace Kelly. Mickey Rooney also appears. The film stars Holden as a Korean War pilot assigned to destroy the title bridge while he battles his own doubts and nerves. The visual effects were Oscar-nominated. Robson was nominated for a Director’s Guild Award.

 

 

Men In War (1957) USA 102 min. Directed by Anthony Mann
Based on a Van Van Praag novel, the movie stars Robert Ryan (The Dirty Dozen) who must guide his platoon through battle. In Korea, on 6 September 1950, Lieutenant Benson's platoon finds itself isolated in enemy-held territory after a retreat. Soon they are joined by Sergeant Montana, whose overriding concern is caring for his catatonic colonel. Benson and Montana can't stand each other, but together they must get the survivors to Hill 465, where they hope the division is waiting. It's a long, harrowing march, fraught with all the dangers the elusive enemy can summon. Who will survive? (from imdb)

Retreat, Hell (1952) USA 95 min. Directed by Joseph H. Lewis
Directed by Joseph H. Lewis, this movie was filmed while the Korean War was actually still going on. It tells the story of a Marine battalion faced to cross treacherous frozen territory to escape the enemy.

 

 

 

Steel Helmet (1951) USA 85 min. Directed by Samuel Fuller
A hard-bitten, cynical veteran sergeant, the lone survivor of an ambushed patrol, joins up with a South Korean orphan, a black medic, a Japanese-American, a former conscientious objector, and other ragtag stragglers and leads them to an abandoned Buddhist temple. They resist the efforts of a captured North Korean major to divide them along ethnic lines and use their strategically important location to direct American artillery fire onto Communist positions. (from imdb)

 

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Movies on World War II

Wind Talkers (2002) USA 134min. Directed by John Woo.
In the close quarters and brutal fighting of the World War II Pacific Theater, the U.S. Intelligence services desperately seek a fool-proof encryption code, immune to the code breakers of the Japanese. The answer is soon discovered in the ancient language of the Navajo. Enlisted into the Marine Corps are several "Windtalkers" who are deployed to frontline areas in the Pacific, to use their language as an impossible-to-crack secret code. The Windtalkers must never be captured alive by the enemy. (imdb)

 

Pearl Harbor (2001) USA 183min. Directed by Michael Bay.
Set during the time of the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, two friends are caught up in the events that draw the United States into World War II. One of them enlists with the U.S. Army Air Corps and the other flies for the British Royal Air Force, but they both find themselves in love with the same woman.

 


Saving Private Ryan (1998) USA 170min. Directed by Steven Spielberg.
Following the Allied invasion of Normandy, two brothers lay dead in the wake of the onslaught. Meanwhile, in New Guinea, a third brother has been killed fighting the Japanese. After the Army General Staff learns that a fourth brother is missing in the French countryside, a rescue mission is ordered to find the young soldier and return him safely home. The mission is mounted by a veteran Ranger Captain commanding a squad of men who have mixed feelings about risking their lives to "Save Private Ryan."(imdb)

 

Midway (1976) USA 132min. Directed by Jack Smight.
The glory, the suspense, the spectacular drama of the men who won the most decisive naval battle in U.S. history. (imdb)

 

Patton (1970) USA 170min. Directed by Franklin J. Schaffner.
"Patton" tells the tale of General George S. Patton, famous tank commander of World War II. The film begins with patton's career in North Africa and progresses through the invasion of Germany and the fall of the Third Reich. Side plots also speak of Patton's numerous faults such his temper and habit towards insubordination. Faults which would, eventually, lead to his being relieved as Occupation Commander of Germany. (imdb)

The Dirty Dozen (1967) USA 149min. Directed by Robert Aldrich.
It is 1944 and the Allied Armies stand ready for a major invasion of Germany from bases in England. As a prelude to D-Day, US Army Intelligence orders a top secret mission where convicted criminals will be offered a pardon in return for parachuting into the Reich on a suicide mission. (imdb)

 

 

The Great Escape (1963) USA 172min. Directed by John Sturgess
Based on a true story, a group of allied escape artist type prisoners of war are all put in an 'escape proof' camp. Their leader decides to try to take out several hundred all at once. The first half of the film is played for comedy as the prisoners mostly outwit their jailers to dig the escape tunnel. The second half is high adventure as they use boats and trains and planes to get out of occupied Europe. (imdb)




The Longest Day (1962) USA 178min. Directed by Ken Annakin
The events of D-Day, told on a grand scale from both the Allied and German points of view. (imdb)

 



Run Silent, Run Deep (1958) USA 93min. Directed by Robert Wise.
The captain of a submarine sunk by the Japanese during WWII is finally given a chance to skipper another sub after a year of working a desk job. His singleminded determination for revenge against the destroyer that sunk his previous vessel puts his new crew in unneccessary danger. (imdb)

 



The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) USA 161min. Directed by David Lean.
The film deals with the situation of British prisoners of war during World War II who are ordered to build a bridge to accommodate the Burma-Siam railway. Their instinct is to sabotage the bridge but, under the leadership of Colonel Nicholson, they are persuaded that the bridge should be constructed as a symbol of British morale, spirit and dignity in adverse circumstances. At first, the prisoners admire Nicholson when he bravely endures torture rather than compromise his principles for the benefit of the Japanese commandant Saito. He is an honorable but arrogant man, who is slowly revealed to be a deluded obsessive. He convinces himself that the bridge is a monument to British character, but actually is a monument to himself, and his insistence on its construction becomes a subtle form of collaboration with the enemy. Unknown to him, the Allies have sent a mission into the jungle, led by Warden and an American, Shears, to blow up the bridge. (imdb)

Mister Roberts (1955) USA 123min. Directed by John Ford.
Mister Roberts is aboard a US cargo ship, working in the Pacific during the Second World War. He'd do anything to leave the quiet of the ship to join in the "action". Trouble is, the captain of the ship, is a bit of a tyrant, and isn't willing to sign Roberts' transfer requests. Also on board is Ensign Pulver, who avoids work as best he can, whilst living off the riches of his buying and selling. Roberts and the crew are in constant battle, even over the smallest of disagreements. (imdb)

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Movies on World War I

Legends of the Fall (1994) USA 133min. Stars Brad Pitt, Julia Ormond, Anthony Hopkins
Colonel Wlliam Ludlow and his 3 sons live in the Rocky Mountains of Montana, USA, at the beginning of the 20th century. When Samuel brings with him his fiancé Susanna, the fellowship of the 3 brothers is about to be broken. The eldest son, Alfred (Aidan Quinn), falls in love with Susanna, and she falls in love with Tristan. Thing becomes worse when the three brothers decide to join the first World War in Europe in 1914, despite their father's objection. The bond of the brothers is about to be broken forever, and so is Colonel William's heart.

A Farewell to Arms (1957) Stars Rock Hudson.
The story of an affair between an English nurse an an American soldier on the Italian front during World War I. (imdb)

African Queen (1951) USA 105min. Directed by John Huston. Stars Humphrey Bogart, Katherine Hepburn.
September 1914, news reaches the colony German Eastern Africa that its motherland is at war, so Reverend Samuel Sayer became a hostile foreigner; German imperial troops burn down his mission, driving him mad- shortly after his well-educated, snooty sister Rose Sayer buries him and leaves by the only available transport, the crummy river steamboat 'African Queen' of grumpy boorish compatriot Charlie Allnut. As if a long difficult journey without any comfort weren't bad enough for such odd companions, she is determined to find a way to do their bit for the British war effort (and revenge her brother) and aims high as God is obviously on their side: construct their own equipment, a torpedo and the converted steamboat, to take out a huge German warship, the Louisa, which is hard to find on the giant lake and first of all to reach, in fact as daunting an expedition as nobody attempted since the late adventurous explorer John Speakes, but she presses till Charlie accepts to steam up the Ulana, about to brave a German fort, raging rapids, very bloodthirsty parasites and the endlessly branching stream which seems to go nowhere but impenetrable swamps... Despite fierce rows and moral antagonism between a bossy devout abstentionist and a free-spirited libertine drunk loner, the two bachelors grow closer to each-other as their quest drags on... (imdb)

Sergeant York (1940) USA 134min. Directed by Howard Hawkes.
A hillbilly sharpshooter becomes one of the most celebrated American heroes of WWI when he single-handedly attacks and captures a German position using the same strategy as in turkey shoot. (imdb)

All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) USA 133min. Directed by Lewis Milestone.
Adapted from a novel by German author Erich Maria Remarque. The film follows a group of German schoolboys, talked into enlisting at the beginning of World War 1 by their jingoistic teacher. The story is told entirely through the experiences of the young German recruits and highlights the tragedy of war through the eyes of individuals. As the boys witness death and mutilation all around them, any preconceptions about "the enemy" and the "rights and wrongs" of the conflict disappear, leaving them angry and bewildered. This is highlighted in the scene where Paul mortally wounds a French soldier and then weeps bitterly as he fights to save his life while trapped in a shell crater with the body. The film is not about heroism but about drudgery and futility and the gulf between the concept of war and the actuality. (imdb)

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Movies on Civil War

Gods and Generals (2003) USA 231min. Ronald F. Maxwell.
Gods and Generals follows the rise and fall of legendary war hero "Stonewall Jackson". The prequel to the 1993 hit Gettysburg. (imdb)

Ride with the Devil (1999) USA 138min. Directed by Ang Lee
Jake Roedel and Jack Bull Chiles are friends in Missouri when the Civil War starts. Women and Blacks have few rights. Jack Bull's dad is killed by Union soldiers, so the young men join the Bushwhackers, irregulars loyal to the South. One is a Black man, Daniel Holt, beholden to the man who bought his freedom. They skirmish then spend long hours hiding. Sue Lee, a young widow, brings them food. She and Jack Bull become lovers, and when he's grievously wounded, Jake escorts her south to a safe farm. The Bushwhackers, led by men set on revenge, make a raid into Kansas. At 19, Jake is ill at ease with war. As his friends die one after another, he must decide where honor lies. (imdb)

Gettysburg (1993) USA 261min. Directed by Ronald F. Maxwell.
The four and 1/4 hour depiction of the historical and personal events surrounding and including the decisive American civil war battle features thousands of civil war re-enactors marching over the exact ground that the federal army and the army of North Virginia fought on. The defense of the Little Round Top and Pickett's Charge are highlighted in the actual three day battle which is surrounded by the speeches of the commanding officers and the personal reflections of the fighting men. Based upon the novel 'The Killer Angels'. (imdb)

Glory (1989) USA 122min. Directed by Edward Zwick. Stars Matthew Broderick, Denzel Washington, Cary Elwes, Morgan Freeman.
Based on the letters of Colonel Robert G. Shaw. Shaw was an officer in the Federal Army during the American Civil War who volunteered to lead the first company of black soldiers. Shaw was forced to deal with the prejudices of both the enemy (who had orders to kill commanding officers of blacks), and of his own fellow officers. (imdb)

North & South (1985) USA 561min. Directed by Richard T. Heffron.
Based on John Jakes best selling novel this is the story of the friendship between two boys - George Hazard and Orry Main - that meet at West Point. George is from a wealthy Pennsylvania steel family and Orry is from a Southern plantation where his family keep slaves. In the years leading up to the Civil War their friendship is tested as their families interact and hostilities between the North and South increase. Notes: In the book Orry loses an arm during the Mexican war where he and George fight together but the in the TV version his injury is re-written as a limp. (imdb)

Shenandoah (1965) USA 105min. Directed by Andrew V. McLaglen
Charlie Anderson is a farmer in Shenandoah, Virginia and finds himself (and his family) in the middle of the Civil War. He decides not to get involved in the war because he believes that this is not "his" war. But he eventually has to get involved when his youngest boy is taken prisoner by the North (imdb)

Red Badge of Courage (1951) USA 69min. Directed by John Huston.
Plot centers around how a young recruit faces the horrors of war. Character vascilates between wanting to fight and doubting his own courage. In midst of first bloody encounter, Youth runs away. After seeing dead and wounded, sense of shame leads him back to his unit, where he distinguishes himself in the next battle. Having overcome his fear of "the great Death" he knows he can face whatever comes. (imdb)

Gone with the Wind (1939) USA 226min. Directed by Victor Fleming. Stars Vivien Leigh, Clark Gable. The epic tale of a woman's life during one of the most tumultuous periods in America's history. From her young, innocent days on a feudalistic plantation to the war-torn streets of Atlanta; from her first love whom she has always desired to three husbands; from the utmost luxury to absolute starvation and poverty; from her innocence to her understanding and comprehension of life based on the book by Margaret Mitchell (imdb)

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Movies on Revolutionary War

The Deserter (2003) USA 75min Directed by Eric Bruno Borgman.
The Deserter, shot in the style of a silent comedy from the 1920's, takes place during the American Revolution in the late 1700's. A loyal British drummer, one of the thousands of British soldiers stationed in America, accidentally drops his canteen into a stream while trying to fill it. He, by chasing his floating canteen down the stream, puts into motion a series of events which will won't stop until he is dead. For a British officer sees him chasing his canteen and mistakes it for his trying to desert the British army by running away into the woods. The officer quickly orders two of the dumbest soldiers after him. The drummer, after catching up with his canteen gets lost in the woods and can't find his way back to the British encampment. When the two British redcoats catch up with the "deserting" drummer, things go from bad to worse for him, when he finally realizes he is being hunted down for execution. His accidentally killing one of these soldiers doesn't help his case either. The drummer briefly escapes... right into the hands of the Americans! In the meantime, the British forces, back at the encampment, march off to meet the American forces for a grand battle, which will rage for hours. And which all the soldiers hunting down the drummer will conveniently miss. The story doesn't end until the officer and his small band of men sees the deserter hanged, but is that really the end of the story?

The Patriot (2000) USA 165 min. Directed by Roland Emmerich
After proving himself on the field of battle in the French and Indian War, Benjamin Martin wants nothing more to do with such things, preferring the simple life of a farmer. But when his son Gabriel enlists in the army to defend their new nation, America, against the British, Benjamin reluctantly returns to his old life to protect his son, now serving under his command, and his family from British tyranny. (imdb)

 

Johnny Tremain (1957) USA 80min Directed by Robert Stevenson
Based on the book by Esther Forbes, Johnny Tremain is drawn into the Revolutionary War, and becomes a patriot fighting to free the colonies from England. Along the way he learns about life and about himself.

 

 

Links

  • List of War Films (Wikipedia)
    List of domestic and international films on the topic of war.