For me it is the classic 1971 "Johnny Got His Gun." The film depicts a young man who survived The Great War only to have lost his arms, legs, eyes, ears, and nose to a mortar blast. Not knowing whether he is dead, alive, or just dreaming, he lies bedridden trying to communicate his last wish: to be shown to the world so they may see what mad consequences war brings
Duck Soup
The Americanization of Emily
All Quiet on The Western Front,
MASH
Paths of Glory
Dr Strangelove
also Platoon?
Where there is no property there is no justice; a proposition as certain as any demonstration in Euclid
Fools! not to see that what they madly desire would be a calamity to them as no hands but their own could bring
I prefer films that are more truthful and don't exagerate war. If one cannot see the reasons against war in films such as "We Were Soldiers" then they won't see them any other way. I like the last scene on the battlefield:
"And the end will be the same... except for the numbers who will die before we get there."
"In a modern democracy, no matter whom you vote for, the government always gets elected" -Christopher Westley
Though not specifically about war, I always thought Legends of the Fall had some really good anti-war sentiment, particularly from Anthony Hopkins' character. In fact, the entire movie is filled with libertarian, anti-state rhetoric.
Its not a movie, but Valkeria Chronicles does a decent job of showing how warfare interferes with people's lives. Almost every major 'good' character was doing something else but end up having to fight off the invasion from the 'evil empire'
Fail Safe (1964) for me.
Lewis S.:Though not specifically about war, I always thought Legends of the Fall had some really good anti-war sentiment, particularly from Anthony Hopkins' character. In fact, the entire movie is filled with libertarian, anti-state rhetoric.
That's actually what made me like that movie when I'd otherwise dismiss it as some purple melodrama. Good actors, good roles, good themes made it worthwhile, especially the anti war and anti government rhetoric. I especially like how the Tristan character goes from being some kind of untouchable force at home to seeing wholesale slaughter and how it personally impacts him and leads to him getting lost for quite some time. I also like the more nordic theme of fate in that movie. It's not about good or bad karma but more a 'shit happens' and this is how they dealt with it theme. You never get the idea in that flick that the world is perfectable. Quite the contrary, and the Tristan and Susanna characters strongly argue against trying to make people who don't fit the mold do so by force.
As for my choices, I'd list 'em as such:
Apocalypse Now: I've heard a few vets criticize its authenticity so I'm not sure how it holds up on that front, but as a modern interpretation of Heart of Darkness and its themes, it's superb.
Starship Troopers: Great message, war makes fascists of us all.
One I can't stand in this context: Saving Private Ryan. I've heard it referred to as an anti war film and the battle scenes are definitely enough to put you off your lunch, but the movie itself does more to glorify the (unneessary) 'sacrifice' of so many people in my opinion than scare them away from it. It's got too much of The Greatest Generation vibe going for it to be truly critical of war and comes off way more pro war in my opinion.
None.
Depictions...
Barefoot Gen
No Man's Land
"All Quiet on the Western Front"
Dulce et decorum est pro patria more.
"......the horr-or.....the horr-or..."
I liked the original theatrical version of Apocalypse Now better than the Redux. The original had a long segment of music and nepalm that ran through the credits and was quite mesmerizing.
All Quiet On the Western Front is a great example for this topic but I think that the book was much more graphic and realistic than the theatrical presentation.
For me, The Red Badge of Courage had more effect on screen than the book did, though.
"Oh, I wish I could pray the way this dog looks at the meat" - Martin Luther
Do any of you know of any film which contrasts a just, ie defensive war, against an unjust one? Being anti-war doesn't make you a pacifist.
The atoms tell the atoms so, for I never was or will but atoms forevermore be.
Yours sincerely,
Physiocrat
I just remembered "Grave of fireflies". It it very sad and beautiful. I'm suprised it hasn't shown up in this thread yet.
I think you would have to go into a bit more detail, as it seems that every non anti-war film deals with this ex: Spartacus, Braveheart, Star Wars, many many Westerns, etc
Merry christmas (Joyeux noel) is pretty much the most poignant anty-war film I've seen.
Downfall is always good. The theme isn't necessarily anti-war, but it makes Adolf Hitler seem like a human. I feel like many people see him as some kind of comic book character that couldn't possibly come to power in 'modern times', so it's interesting to humanize the war.
EDIT: I'll add Brothers because, while it's a drama film, it's really anti-war too. And the guerilla fighters in Pan's Labyrinth always make me happy.
i second scineram's nomination, "no man's land", and would add another danis tanovic film, "triage". i also liked the israeli anti-war films, "waltz with bashir" and "lebanon".
"full metal jacket" i think could be considered an anti-war film. brilliant.
to brian anderson:
totally agree. i have a soft spot for "merry christmas mr lawrence", and the old john boorman classic "hell in the pacific". kubrick's "dr. strangelove" is a must-see as has been noted already.
i loved "pan's labyrinth" too, but tend to discount a lot of the movies that feature the spanish civil war, as they are prone to make the franquistas too arch, and glorify the communists' heroic struggle. i can't think of one spanish film that gets the balance right.
i'd also recommend, given the present war-on-terror, pontecorvo's 1966 classic "the battle for algiers".
clint eastwood's double-set "flags of our fathers" and "letters from iwo jima" are also anti-war, in my opinion.
i saw "stop-loss" and "the hurt locker" as having an anti-war message.
The Americanization of Emily is my favourite, after that Xiu Xiu. Stalingrad, the one about the siege from the point of view of the civilians is worth the time too. Lust, Caution about Sino-Japanese war is a different kind but I recommend it also.
This. Grave of the Fireflies is the most depressing and convincingly anti-war movie I've seen.
There's next to no depiction of battle, nor of soliders fighting. It focuses entirely on the effects on the innocents caught up in the conflict. It's anime, but the mature, well produced kind.
I'm surprised no one has mentioned Born on the Fourth of July. I remember seeing this movie before I left to basic training. It seriously made me rethink about my enlistment into the military. I was very unfortunate because I went to Ranger School and became a medic (meaning that my chances of seeing combat where increased by a factor of 10). I'm grateful I didn't see any combat, and my primary reason for joining was for a 100% college tuition waiver. I was lucky that my enlistment ended before any major conflicts.
Born on the Fourth of July just represents the reality of war in pure horror. That being said, many just don't realize how much Hollywood glamorizes war. Military life is not easy, especially in combat units. It's incredibly physically demanding and mentally you can lose yourself in the military mentality. However, I meet a multitude of military officers who were converted libertarians that exposed me to the truths of liberty.
Grave of the Fireflies it is. I cried for almost a week , just so shattering. No other films mentioned here come close to Grave for emotional impact. Amazingly But I guess its justifiable since they bombed Pearl barbor. Thats the logic on film boards for the death of those wonderful children. Whats the Menecken line about human stupidity.
Another point about Grave of the Fireflies, it's based on the author's experiences during the time, and is in many respects a true story. I think that was what pushed it over the top for me. It's not some overblown story, wagging it's finger at you that WAR IS BAD. It's a fictionalized account of the writer's own experiences, and in some ways an apology to his sister.
"They deserved it because of Pearl Harbor."
Have anyone who says that watch this movie and let them say it again with a straight face.
Oliver Stone movies are powerful statements against the Vietnam War. You can forget about his being a Democrat or the maker of 'Wall Street,' and focus on 'JFK,' 'Platoon,' and as the guy above me pointed out, 'Born on the fourth of July.' Brilliant works. Personally, my favorite is 'JFK.'
Grave of the Fireflies is an excellent antiwar movie. You win this thread.
"I cannot prove, but am prepared to affirm, that if you take care of clarity in reasoning, most good causes will take care of themselves, while some bad ones are taken care of as a matter of course." -Anthony de Jasay
The thin red line succeeded in showing the horrors of war. Showed the Japanese being actual real people.
i'd like to add the messenger (2009). it's a telling reminder to where interventionism ends up.
300. The Hellenic Era was terrifying.
I consider Waltz With Bashir (2008) to be the one best anti-war films. Some of the scenes are completely mesmerising...
At the moment I'm reading Catch-22, which has a pretty damn explicit anti-military/anti-bureaucracy massage too.
"No person is so grand or wise or perfect as to be the master of another person." ~ Karl Hess
"look, property is theft, right? Therefore theft is property. Therefore this ship is mine, OK?" ~Zaphod Beeblebrox
Oliver Stone movies are powerful statements against the Vietnam War.
I love all of Oliver Stone's work. I know he wants people to "re-think" socialism or whatever he said, but, out of all of his interviews I've seen, he actually seems like a pretty reasonable person. I feel like he'd actually be able to have an honest conversation about economics/politics instead of someone like Bill Maher who seems pretty stubborn in his views.
The above movie was more of a statement on how ivory tower Hollywood understands little of the violence it glorifies in cinema...rather than an anti-war movie. Good choice though haha!
'Grave of the Fireflies is an excellent antiwar movie. You win this thread.
I have never seen it but reading the plot from wiki, it sounds like a carbon copy of what many Tokyo children went through at the end of the war. Many turn into thieves or 'gutter children' who were neglected by the survivors because they were seen as dirty criminals. Very depressing.
'Men do not change, they unmask themselves' - Germaine de Stael
Apocalypse Now without a doubt. It depicts not only the horror and futility of Vietnam, but illustrates how we were trying deliberately not to win it.
No Man's Land isn't antiwar. It's pro-interventionist.
to marko:
i didn't get that message. to me it exposed the hypocrisy of the "peace-keeping" mission. but it's been a while since i watched it.
Anything depicting war depicts the horrors of war.
It pokes fun at the UN intervention for being inefficient and surrounded by red tape. Exactly the line of argument used to bring about a US led NATO intervention in its stead.
i saw the film's exposure of inefficiency and cynicism of the u.n. peacekeepers as a disendorsement of their function.
what politicians made of u.n. ineptitude is a different matter, surely not the fault of the director. tanovic' anti-war credentials, to my mind, were boosted in his 2009 film, triage.