We’ve seen and heard a great deal of warfare over the cross of human history. Ranging from biblical times to World War II to Vietnam and more, they have been used as inspiration for movies. Throughout the years, we’ve been presented with plenty of films regarding warfare. Be it fictional or non-fictional, themes explored in war films include combat, survivor, escape stories, tales of sacrifice, effects of war on society, so on and so forth.
Angelina Jolie recently tried her hand at directing a war film “Unbroken” – a tale about Olympian Louis Zamperini surviving World War II. Jolie’s “Unbroken” led to us rewatching some really good war based films from the golden days as well as from the modern day. That being said, we’ve decided come up with a list featuring some of our favourite war films:
SOURCE: YouTube
Schindler’s List (1993)
“Power is when we have every justification to kill, and we don’t.” – Oskar Schindler.
Directed and co-produced by Steven Spielberg, “Schindler’s List” is probably one of Spielberg’s best work. Using harsh, brutal realism to deliver his powerful points about racism and ethnic cleaning, this 1993 gem had and will always leave movie buffs in awe.
Also, its fabulous black-and-white photography as well as hand-held camera footage gives the film a strong documentary feel.
SOURCE: YouTube
The Pianist (2002)
“Music was his passion, survival was his masterpiece.”
Starring Adrien Brody and Thomas Kretschmann, “The Pianist” is the adaptation of Władysław Szpilman’s autobiography “The Pianist: The Extraordinary True Story of One Man’s Survival in Warsaw, 1939-1945″. Featuring old-fashioned visuals and narrative, director Roman Polanski delivers his finest job with “The Pianist”.
Raw, emotional, heart-wrenching, the movie also brought out the best in Adrien Brody.
SOURCE: YouTube
Inglourious Basterds (2009)
Starring Brad Pitt, Michael Fassbender, Christoph Waltz, and Mélanie Laurent, “Inglourious Basterds” was a made up off bits and pieces of World War II. Delirious entertaining featuring classic Quentin Tarantino touches, the movie is definitely the director’s most exhilarating and hilarious work since “Pulp Fiction” (1994).
SOURCE: YouTube
Saving Private Ryan (1998)
An intimate story to the sweep of history spattered with gore, “Saving Private Ryan” is yet another one of Steven Spielberg’s brilliant works. Graphic and realistic, the film features, what is dubbed the “greatest combat sequence ever” and will make you well up like a baby.
Seriously, prepare a box of tissues when watching.
SOURCE: YouTube
The Hurt Locker (2008)
Kathryn Bigelow’s “The Hurt Locker” will go down in the books for being one of the best (if not the best) film about the war in Iraq. Rising above the political slop surrounding Iraq, Bigelow goes straight to the bone with “The Hurt Locker” delivering the hard, bloody reality of war without emotional acts of war heroism.