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....
Suite Francaise (2014)
7/10
Director: Saul Dibb
Starring: Matthias Schoenaerts, Kristin Scott Thomas, Michelle Williams, Sam Riley, Ruth W...
Romantic drama set during World War II. In the early days of Nazi-occupied France, Lucile (Michelle Williams) waits to hear of news from her captive h... Read more
Raid on Rommel (1971)
5.6/10
Director: Henry Hathaway
Starring: Richard Burton, John Colicos, Clinton Greyn
Richard Burton stars as a lone British officer who leads a rag tag group on a mission to knock out Rommel's fortress at Tobruk, taking on German Panze... Read more
An Angel For May (2002)
7.1/10
Director: Harley Cokliss
Starring: Matthew Beard, Charlotte Wakefield, Julie Cox, Tom Wilkinson, Anna Massey, Angel...
A troubled schoolboy is transported back to war-time England after he stumbles on a door through time in an old Yorkshire farmhouse. He meets a kindl... Read more
Zero Dark Thirty (2012)
7.4/10
Director: Kathryn Bigelow
Starring: Joel Edgerton, Jessica Chastain, Jason Clarke
Controversial military thriller from director Kathryn Bigelow ("The Hurt Locker") about the mission by American special operations forces to capture o... Read more
Eye in the Sky (2015)
7.3/10
Director: Gavin Hood
Starring: Alan Rickman, Helen Mirren, Iain Glen, Jeremy Northam, Aaron Paul, Barkhad Abdi
A military officer in command of an operation to capture terrorists in Kenya sees her mission escalate when a girl enters the kill zone triggering an... Read more
From Here to Eternity (1953)
7.7/10
Director: Fred Zinnemann
Starring: Donna Reed, Ernest Borgnine, Frank Sinatra, Montgomery Clift, Burt Lancaster, De...
The talented Fred Zinnemann ('A Man for All Seasons') perfectly captures the static isolation and boredom that envelops the military personnel in peac... Read more
The Men Who Stare at Goats (2009)
6.2/10
Director: Grant Heslov
Starring: Ewan McGregor, George Clooney, Jeff Bridges, Kevin Spacey, Robert Patrick, Steph...
Loosely adapted from the book by Jon Ronson that was inspired by actual events, this satirical comedy stars Ewan McGregor as a journalist working in I... Read more
Paths of Glory (1957)
8.4/10
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Starring: Kirk Douglas, Ralph Meeker, Adolphe Menjou
Stanley Kubrick gives us a scathing indictment against the staff-officer mentality that cares about promotions more than the men who make those promot... Read more
Run Silent, Run Deep (1958)
7.4/10
Director: Robert Wise
Starring: Clark Gable, Burt Lancaster, Jack Warden
A tense submarine thriller as feuding Naval officers (Clark Gable and Burt Lancaster) find themselves going head on against a Japanese sub during WWII... Read more
Behind the Lines ( Regeneration ) (1997)
7.1/10
Director: Gillies MacKinnon
Starring: Jonathan Pryce, James Wilby, Jonny Lee Miller, Stuart Bunce
A Scottish military hospital in World War I is the setting for this unusual and gripping drama based on Pat Barker's novel 'Regeneration'. Psychiatris... Read more