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Spreadin' The Love Around With 10 Anti-War/Pro-Peace Movies! (Part 1)May 15 '06 Write an essay on this topic.
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The Bottom Line Watch for Part 2 soon!
I’ve been brainstorming for the past several weeks to come up with excellent, original, daring movies that make you wonder about man’s inhumanity to man, how absurd and horrible war is and is peace ever possible among nations? There are a number of movies I have not seen that may be included in a second list, but don’t expect The Deer Hunter. Talk about slow! About a week ago I made a list of twelve movies I’ve reviewed over the last six and a half years that are also very fine anti-war dramas or satires and the following ten are still more because there are so many movies I’ve enjoyed in this category. These ten are more than historical war movies showing the courage and suffering of great people. They do show that and the horror of war, but step beyond the comfort zone to also show the absurdity, illusion and meaningless of war. Trying to decide which movies do that has been quite time-consuming as you may imagine! I’m spreading the love around the site by featuring other wonderful writers who have reviewed these movies, resonating with my own views, plus a promising, new writer who has already reviewed three movies very helpfully and I include an excerpt from his latest. Check out his website and you’ll discover he loves classic books and movies that I do too. I don’t know if we’re on the same track musically, heh, but two out of three…:-) (1930) All Quiet On The Western Front by kurt_h One of the greatest triumphs of this film is the using of British actors in German roles: no attempt was made to remake the story into a British one by changing names and places. In doing so the film is strengthened by making its message a universal one that cuts across nations and peoples. The inhumanity of war is not limited to one side, but is spread to all involved in a manner that is absolutely fair in its randomness. The discussion amongst the soldiers starts with 'why are we fighting?' and goes on, over time, to 'what will you do after the war?' and ends up with Paul talking to one of the trusted veterans he is carrying away from aerial bombing and he has no idea he is talking to a dead man. The vignettes, interludes and raw horror of battle brings home the message that young men are sent out not to kill, but to sacrifice themselves and be killed. Read the rest: http://www.epinions.com/content_25178115716#ow (1940) The Great Dictator by matthewn The point of the story, in case people didn’t get it, is that it’s pointless for people to spend so much time hating and dividing ourselves by ethnicity and religious beliefs, and how dangerous it is to let someone tell you what to think. This was the final speech by Hinkel at the end of the movie. He says, “I'm sorry but I don't want to be an emperor. That's not my business. I don't want to rule or conquer anyone. I should like to help everyone if possible; Jew, Gentile, black men, white. We all want to help one another. Human beings are like that. “ There’s much more to the speech than I have given you and is very well-done by Chaplin. This movie is old yes, but the issues of hatred, bigotry and letting others control your lives and thoughts, are as much an issue in 1940 as they are today. Read the rest: http://www.epinions.com/content_1550798393648 (1951) The Day The Earth Stood Still by Ed_Williamson When THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL was being filmed back in 1950, the film makers asked the American War Department to let it use some military hardware as props for the film. The War Department never had a problem letting Hollywood use its weapons and soldiers for pro-war movies before. But when the War Department read the script for THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL and saw that it was about peace, they turned the film makers down on the military hardware. Presumably, since the Korean War was going on then, a movie about “peace” may have been thought to be “unpatriotic.” So the film makers went to the Virginia National Guard and got the jeeps and guns and equipment they needed (Virginia, presumably, was not at war with anyone at that time.) Peace has always been a tough sell, I suppose, in spite of what most people say about wanting “World Peace.” Read the rest: http://www.epinions.com/content_133667720836 (1964) Dr. Strangelove by basesurge "Strangelove" was released in 1964 when the H-bomb was a new and very mysterious icon of random destruction. It was also the beginning of what has come to be called the "Sexual Revolution" these two cultural forces collide weirdly in this movie. Kubrick shot his movie in stark black and white which gives the proceedings a surreal atmosphere rather like some 1920-30s era German movie such as "Metropolis". Many scenes drip with absurdity (to which I was clueless in my early years), examples: the B-52 commander (flawlessly essayed by cowboy star Slim Pickens) urging his crew on with promises of "medals and personal commendations" or President Muffly chiding the Soviet Ambassador for "fighting in the war room." Most of the yuks are verbal, puns and such, with the exception of some of Sellers' antics as the title character, there isn't much Abbot and Costello-style slapstick. I know people who think "Dr. Strangelove" is the funniest movie ever made and I know people who don't get it. Depends on your taste in funnies, I suppose. Read the rest: http://www.epinions.com/content_186423742084#ow (1978) Coming Home by DavidMac It will be clear very quickly to any viewer that this is an antiwar film, made from a liberal perspective. I thought that the way it exposes this was rather amusing. Since the movie doesn’t show any battles, it has to make do with characterizations, and those are quite interesting. Bruce Dern is an uncomplicated, conservative, and repressed individual -- he lives for war, and for the honors that go with it, he sees Fonda as a “wife” rather than as a lover and friend, and..... he makes love in the missionary position! (This is important, really!) Jon Voight, on the other hand, is emotional, haunted, passionate, honest about his feelings, hates the war, and, even with his anger, is able to care for other people, and..... he really knows how to pleasure a woman! So guess who’s the more desirable guy? This is probably the only antiwar movie in which one of the more critical parts of the drama involves Jane Fonda’s character getting her first shuddering orgasm, in a sex scene that ranks close to the top in my list of such cinematic erotic trysts. I’m not making fun of the scene; it is a good scene, and all adult romances should have one like it! It manages to be steamy, frank, quiet, and not trashy at all.... unless stuff like that offends you. Read the rest: http://www.epinions.com/content_63510646404 (1979) Apocalypse Now by steerpyke Its depiction of war comes not from the battle scenes, though these are done very well, but from the mix of chaos and normality. Soldiers surfing on the edge of a battle zone, the ability of the boat crew to kill civilians but save a lost puppy, its the mix of morality with madness, the unpredictability of the people and their double standards when trying to justify their actions. The direction and cinematography are superb, as you would expect from Francis Ford Coppola, the second half of the film in particular, filmed in half light and shadow, swathed in mist and an atmosphere of terror and slow death, creates this otherworldly feeling, this is hell on earth. Coppola's father, Carmine, was responsible for a memorable score which mixes contemporary songs such from the likes of The Doors and the Rolling Stones, with instrumentals that are based on the traditional sounds of South East Asia. All in all a classic film about the effects of war on people, in a similar vein as The Deerhunter but with the emphasis on one man rather that a group of friends and their community. It is a film that will make you think and will open up more questions than answers, but provides some memorable scenes and will remain a benchmark for future film makers for a long time to come. Read the rest: http://www.epinions.com/content_170035809924 My review of book Heart of Darkness: http://www.epinions.com/content_135732039300 (1990) Born On The Fourth Of July by iamlegend Born on the Fourth of July is a true rarity in the increasingly saturated and highly conservative world of mainstream Hollywood. It takes Kovic’s journey as a metaphor for the nation’s, it’s message is beautifully simple, that the only heroes to emerge from war are soldiers for peace. Stone shows the courage and passion with which Kovic went to war, and then surpasses this with the courage with which he returned from the wilderness of the Mexican w*orehouses and drug dens in which so many more ‘silent’ victims of the Vietnam war quietly lost their lives. This film is far from upsetting in the conventional sense, it isn’t the ‘sad film’ it’s so often characterised as. It is in fact the most heroic of all war film’s, one of the bravest and most uncompromising accounts of the harsh realities and consequences of sending young men into armed conflict it is quiet simply a must see film. Kovic’s story represents an emphatic and triumphant victory for the human spirit in the face of overwhelming odds and at a great personal cost. It is the journey of a true American patriot. Stone’s film dares purport that there is more to war than firing guns and dropping bombs, the message to emerge from this film is powerful. Kovic is characterised as a patriot and a fighter throughout. Read the rest: http://www.epinions.com/content_134016306820 (1999) Three Kings by brando814 Troy and his captors led by Said (Said Tamaghoui) manage to have a touching conversation in which Said describes with great sorrow the fates that have fallen upon his wife and son. To which he asks Troy, "Can you think how it would feel in your heart if I bomb your daughter?" to which he replies "Worse than death." It is a moment where the two get past the fact that they are enemies and see each other as human beings no different from each other but fighting for different causes. It is one of the most insightful moments of the film showing the senselessness of war and how it can tear a man apart. The fact that Troy cannot kill his captor when released despite being tortured speaks volumes of the way they have come to understand each other. Perhaps there are some readers who will think I have read to deeply into it but interpret as you must. Read the rest: http://www.epinions.com/mvie-review-1A88-18EE42F-396EADFD-prod6 (2002) The Quiet American by millinocket Earlier, I mentioned that the word “beautiful” is not one that I would normally ascribe to a war movie. But this is no regular war movie. Cinematographer Christopher Doyle gives us a Vietnam that is horrifying in war, but intensely beautiful within itself. The Mekong River, the bustling normality of life in Saigon that continues despite the bombs, the countryside at night, all lovingly photographed in vivid detail, letting us into a world that we normally don’t get to see in movies detailing conflict in Vietnam. Even the usually annoying device of slow motion is used with triumphant and tragic success here. The score by Craig Armstrong fills us with a foreboding sense of the events yet to come in the many years of conflict that will follow our story. The entire movie is filled with subtle references to things yet to come. The terrifyingly inexplicable nature of friend vs. enemy, the lack of accountability for horrors perpetrated against innocents, the almost dreamlike quality of ideals imploding in upon themselves. In this setting, years before the war in Vietnam will ever reach an American television screen, we see apocalyptic foreshadowing of the devastation that that war will bring. To all involved. This is a riveting piece of filmmaking. It is one of those rare movies that gives us a fascinating set of characters, an engrossing and surprising story, and a setting so full of nuance that we can barely absorb it all… Read the rest: http://www.epinions.com/content_111062126212 (2004) Downfall by edmaidel Few films about Hitler can ignore the Holocaust, and whereas Downfall has no depictions of any of the horrific events perpetrated at the numerous death camps, Hitler's frequent condemnation of the "Jewish poison" suffices to remind us of his misguided, hateful and brutally devastating position on Jews and other "inferiors." Germany seems to have more than its fair share of neo-Nazis and revisionist historians who try to claim that the Holocaust never happened. That makes the fact that Downfall is a German film all the more pertinent. Many of the actors and others involved in the production of this film state (on the extras on the DVD) that for Downfall to be a German film gives an all new level of respectability and credibility to the depiction of the horrific events illustrated (or discussed) herein of those awful years in which the Nazis took over in Germany, and came dangerously close to doing so throughout most of the European continent. Read the rest: http://www.epinions.com/content_191993122436 NEWBIE REVIEW (2005) Duane Hopwood by gwayne (3 stars) As the title character of writer and director Matt Mulhern's 2005 film Duane Hopwood, David Schwimmer portrays a recently divorced father of two young girls, working nights as a pit boss in Atlantic City while hoping to reconcile with his ex-wife, Linda (Janeane Garofalo), and living in denial of his alcoholism. The film begins with a short montage of moments from Duane's recent life, then quickly establishes how severe his drinking has become during a scene in which he is stopped by a police officer, with whom he is also close friends, for speeding while drunk. The officer decides to do his friend a favor, offering to give Duane a ride home and to call a tow for his SUV. Halfway to the officer's car Duane suddenly turns and begins stumbling back towards his vehicle — he has forgotten his daughter, who is asleep on the backseat. The officer, understandably troubled, takes Duane aside and tells him that this changes the situation, that he can't just let it go now. This incident is the catalyst for much of what follows in the film, particularly Linda's decision to seek to have his visitation rights revoked. But even this moment, on which everyone else's attitude towards Duane's drinking turns, leaves him merely defensive, still unwilling to admit to the seriousness of his problem. Read the rest: http://www.epinions.com/content_230993333892 NOTE--Many more excellent reviews have been written on these movies and I hope you'll check them out too!  |
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