War and Anti-War Films
"War and Anti-War Films" often acknowledge the horror and heartbreak of war, letting the actual combat fighting or conflict (against nations or humankind) provide the primary plot or background for the action of the film. Typical elements in the action-oriented war plots include POW camp experiences and escapes, submarine warfare, espionage, personal heroism, "war is hell" brutalities, air dogfights, tough trench/infantry experiences, or male-bonding buddy adventures during wartime. Themes explored in war films include combat, survivor and escape stories, tales of gallant sacrifice and struggle, studies of the futility and inhumanity of battle, the effects of war on society, and intelligent and profound explorations of the moral and human issues.
Listed below are all the very best of this genre. Scroll yer heart out....
Apocalypse Now ( Blu-ray ) (1979)
8.5/10
Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Starring: Albert Hall, Dennis Hopper, Frederic Forrest, Harrison Ford, Laurence Fishburne,...
Francis Ford Coppola directed, produced, and co-wrote this masterful Vietnam War-updating of Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness." The film chronicles... Read more
Apocalypse Now Redux (1979)
Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Starring: Martin Sheen, Marlon Brando, Robert Duvall, Frederic Forrest, Laurence Fishburne...
Huge production difficulties were faced by Francis Ford Coppola while shooting this epic-scale Vietnam War drama, including disastrous weather conditi... Read more
Appointment In London (1953)
Director: Philip Leacock
Starring: Dirk Bogarde, Ian Hunter, Dinah Sheridan
The engrossing story of a British bomber squadron in W.W.II and a high-pressured officer (Dirk Bogarde) who insists on flying a dangerous mission in s... Read more
Army in the Shadows ( aka Army of Shadows ) (1969)
Director: Jean-Pierre Melville
Starring: Lino Ventura, Paul Meurisse, Jean-Pierre Cassel, Simone Signoret
A.k.a. 'Army of Shadows'. Based on Joseph Kessel's novel, this war drama follows several months in the life of French Resistance fighter Philippe Gerb... Read more
Assembly (2007)
7.3/10
Director: Feng Xiaogang
Starring: Zhang Hanyu, Yuan Wenkang, Deng Chao
Acclaimed Chinese director Feng Xiaogang brings the little known Chinese Civil War into light with this powerful and unflinching film based on a true... Read more
Atonement (2007)
7.8/10
Director: Joe Wright
Starring: Keira Knightley, James McAvoy, Romola Garai, Vanessa Redgrave, Brenda Blethyn
Based on the acclaimed novel by Ian McEwan ('Enduring Love', 'The Comfort of Strangers'), this epic war-time romance is one of the finest studies of f... Read more
Atonement ( Blu-ray ) (2007)
7.8/10
Director: Joe Wright
Starring: Brenda Blethyn, Vanessa Redgrave, Keira Knightley, James McAvoy, Romola Garai, S...
Based on the acclaimed novel by Ian McEwan ('Enduring Love', 'The Comfort of Strangers'), this epic war-time romance is one of the finest studies of f... Read more
Attack Force Z (1982)
5.6/10
Director: Tim Burstall
Starring: Mel Gibson, Chris Haywood, John Phillip Law, Sam Neill
Mel Gibson commands an elite military team dispatched during WWII to locate and rescue the survivors of a shot-down plane, stranded on a South Pacific... Read more
Attack on Leningrad (2009)
Director: Aleksandr Buravsky
Starring: Armin Mueller-Stahl, Gabriel Byrne, Mira Sorvino, Olga Sutulova
Aka 'Leningrad'. A soaring, action-packed journey of heroism and sacrifice as one crusading journalist desperately fights to uncover the horrors burie... Read more
Attack! (1956)
7.5/10
Director: Robert Aldrich
Starring: Jack Palance, Eddie Albert, Lee Marvin, Buddy Ebsen
This compelling WWII drama from the director of "The Dirty Dozen" is set in Belgium in 1944, where cowardly American Captain Eddie Albert has placed o... Read more